All In The Hands Of Fate
by HavocDistraction
Summary: Slash fic Tai Lung/OC. The story of a wolf with a hidden past, one he cannot remember even if he wishes to, who subconsciously gives Tai Lung freedom from his remorse and regret in life. But how far will freedom bring the two together?
1. Awakening

_A/N Right. You guys might have noticed, but I have reformatted the chapters. I merged two into one. All because I felt like it. :D Just kidding. Early on, it already felt like I was cutting them in half, so I might as well post them like a whole. And here they were. By the way, chapter three is a new updated Chapter 5 added with what was supposed to be Chapter 6._

* * *

><p><strong>All in the Hands of Fate<strong>

Tavan Bogd Mountains, at the almost inaccessible peak of the snowy mountain range lie to formidable gaoi, Chorh-Gom Prison. A prison warded by the Anvil of Heaven, a group of elite rhino guards that had devoted to a restless sentry. Deep below the chasm of more than a thousand feet was a single prisoner.

Tai Lung, a relentless warrior sentenced to imprisonment for life for the havoc he had caused to a village in the Valley of Peace. A year ago, he had escaped from prison and sought revenge for the twenty years he had lost. Commander Vachir, leader of the Anvil of Heaven, tried to destroy the prison when Tai Lung escaped but failed in the attempt.

However, just how the great story books retold that tale, when Tai Lung found his old master, he was defeated by the glorious and true Dragon Warrior. The Dragon Warrior had beaten him in single-combat, and the snow leopard was sent back to the prison, and safety in the Valley of Peace had returned. And now, he was held prisoner once again at Chorh-Gom Prison #2, constructed at a neighbor peak of the old fortress.

The cold wintry season did not help as Tai Lung was hanging in mid-air. The fortress was designed similarly like the previous Chorh-Gom. The design of his new chains was simpler than before. Two stalagmites that stuck out from the earth were beside him, and chains were simply tied to his wrists and around the pointed top of the stalagmites. If he ever wanted to escape, he could easily do so with ease.

But Tai Lung did not have any desire to escape. No… he would rather be dead. His head was tucked down facing the ground, he did not move his limbs, and his breath could scarcely be heard. You could say that a living skeleton was hanging at the bottom of the prison. You could not tell if he was asleep, or simply kept silent for throughout the entire year. Even the guards who had spent most of their lives keeping watch could not know.

Lingering thoughts rippled in his mind. Tai Lung repeated the word over and over. _Fate_. He could feel a heavy burden in his chest every time it bounced in his head. "_Is this my fate?" _the snow leopard lamented in his thoughts. "_I thought I was meant for something great! But… not like this. All the things that I thought was meant for me in the past… were they all but a lie?"_

"Am I meant for anything?" he muttered. A few guards thought they had heard something, but simply shrugged it off. "_Are my sins so heavy that they cannot be pardoned? All I wanted… no, wait-"_

He was on to something, perhaps a great truth was supposed to be revealed to himself. But, he could not grasp it. Tai Lung noticed something was off in his thoughts, and he continued to ponder. But, he could not reach any further from whatever he was thinking. The snow leopard continued to think, as he counted every passing second of his captivity.

* * *

><p>"Wh-where am I?" a voice uttered to himself in the snowy blizzard. His bone-chilling breath could not even speak loud enough for him himself to hear. A wolf, trudging across blistering snow, took each step in bare paw. Only a long brown coat wrapped around him covered him from the freezing cold. It swayed along with the heavy winds that howled across the mountains, but he wouldn't know that.<p>

The wolf glanced side to side, to see nothing, not even an idea of where he would be. He could only tell he was at a mountain, as he was walking up a slope. A few steps further and he caught glimpse of a tiny orange light further up. At the glimmer of hope, he continued to walk up to the light. He reached a flat clearing, and the blizzard did not blow there to blur his vision.

"Who goes there?" a voice boomed at the other end of the clearing. Two rhinos stood beside a door, looking as they were on guard regardless of the freezing cold. The wolf, with no other option, approached them; slowly, but perhaps as fast as he could from all the shivering.

But when he was about a meter away, one of them pointed a spear at him. "Who are you?" the guard asked.

"I – uh…" the wolf couldn't remember. In fact, he could not remember anything at all. A word flashed in his head, and he could only guess his name would either be it or at least something to avoid being stabbed. "My name's… Yut," he said, pronouncing the word like Newt with the N replaced with Y.

"Yut?" he asked. Suddenly, the door between them opened and another rhino with a golden cap around his horn approached them.

"What's the commotion about? I thought I said 'no talking during patrols'" the rhino said.

"We got some guy here," said the second guard. "Calls himself Yut."

The rhino with lighter grey skin and violet eyes raised an eyebrow. "I am Commander Vachir, leader of the Anvil of Heaven," he said. "What is your business here at Chorh-Gom Prison?"

"Umm…" the wolf quick-wittedly thought of an elaborate excuse. "I was… sent here."

"Sent here?" Vachir asked. He squinted as he scanned Yut from head to toe. The wolf anxiously waited for his reply. "You tellin' me you're who the Royal Palace sent as replacement guards? Just you?"

"Uhhh… yes." Yut blankly replied. He didn't think anyone would believe him, but he had to play along somehow.

Vachir gave him an odd stare. "Feh. Well, all I know is that I've been sending messages to the Royal Palace requesting replacement guards," Vachir said. "If the Royal Palace only cares as much as giving just one soldier, fine by me. Come inside."

Yut could hardly believe it that they bought it, but he followed in anyways. He didn't really know a thing about what was going on. Inside the dark cave were lit torches, and in front of him amassed a multitude of guards, all carrying luggage.

"Look, here's what's been going on. I doubt the Royal Palace told you anything, so I'll just fill you in." Vachir said as he showed him around. "We've been on guard for years now, and we've gotten tired of it. We all want a vacation, especially me. I'm sure you're aware what this prison is for, right?"

Yut shook his head. Vachir sighed with a spiteful thought about the Royal palace. "All one-thousand guards are monitoring over a single prisoner, Tai Lung." The wolf looked below the bridge to see the deep chasm that stretched down ending at a platform.

"He escaped once, but it looks like he's not planning any attempts to escape anymore. If I were him, I'd have escaped already, with all that kung fu under my wing." Vachir grinned. "But anyways, you don't have to worry. Some of us are gonna stay behind while the rest of us are on vacation. These guys that are left behind, well, somehow gone crazy and won't leave duty anymore."

Vachir raised his right arm and flagged it down to the exit. All the guards that were wearing tough looks suddenly started wearing smiles as they enthusiastically left the fortress. "Anything else I should know?" Yut asked.

The rhino scratched his chin. "Weeell… oh, right. Under no circumstances should you talk to the prisoner. We don't want to give him any ideas now, " Vachir said. As the last guard left through the door, Vachir picked up his luggage and went to follow. Just as he was at the door, he waved his hand away. "I'll be sure to send a postcard!"

And with that, Yut had mysteriously gained access to shelter, food, and everything else he might need. It seemed all a little too farfetched, but he'd rather just go with it. As he turned his back on the door, the wolf bumped into a large body of mass, making him land on his butt.

"Oof! What in the-" Yut rubbing his muzzle and looked up to see a serious looking rhino.

"Anvil of Heaven member number 624, sir!" he saluted with a baritone voice.

"Uhh…" Yut muttered. "Hey"

"What are your orders, sir?" he inquired.

This must be one of those duty-freaks, Yut thought. With them around, he guessed that it'd be best for him to keep playing along. "Umm… at ease, soldier," he said.

"Sir, yes, sir!" 624 said, standing upright as possible.

"_He must think I'm his superior," _Yut guessed. Without memory of anything other than his name, he was absolutely clueless with everything. But asking them just anything might make them suspicious, and he would rather not take the risk no matter how much he desired to know.

A cold breeze came out of nowhere and blew across his coat. The wolf shivered, even with all the fur that covered his body. "W-where's the armory?" Yut stuttered has he kept his teeth from chattering.

"It's right across the bridge, sir," he pointed. Yut nodded with sway of his hand saying "carry on". He opened the steel door to see weapons and armor all around the wall and hanged by stacks. Yut grabbed the torch from outside and lit up all the rest in the room. When he passed by one of the corners, he caught with his peripheral vision the light from the torch he was holding flash back.

He walked up to the corner to see a mirror and his own reflection looking at him. Yut took his coat off to reveal a fairly built body, grey fur with a white underbelly stretching down halfway to his thighs. He had a fluffy tail with a patch of white at the end. And a small amount of darker fur that grew from the center top of his head and went down along his neck like a mane, the same color sa his ears.

Seeing the fact that he stood naked, he quickly looked around for comfortable undergarments he could wear. Yut found a long piece of cloth and tied it around like a fundoshi. He found a good pair of plaid slacks and a leather vest. He went back to check how he looked and wagged his tail. "Not too shabby," he mused to himself.

When he lifted his foot, a heavy feeling pulled down on it and sweeped across the floor. The cloak he had when he got here was all he had from what he could remember. He grabbed it by his hand, waved it into the air and tied an end around his neck. A tattered brown cloak might seem handy in making things warmer anyways.

Yut walked out of the armory to see all the guards sternly standing or in patrol. "Might be risky, but rather dead than staying clueless," he muttered to himself.

Trying to talk to one of them was hard. There might be about 2000 of the soldiers who called themselves Anvil of Heaven left in here, and talking to one was incredibly difficult. They seemed to be ignoring him, and while they wouldn't answer back anything he asked they would continue to walk regardless of anything that happened.

He caught sight of an almost familiar looking rhino and approached him. "H…hello, soldier," Yut said, wondering how _did_ soldiers greet each other. "W-what's your number?"

"I am number 724, sir," the guard replied. A hundred apart from the first one he met but noticing that he replied seemed like a good sign for him.

"Can you tell me where this prison is?" the wolf asked, more like it was a trivial question than an informal one.

"Chorh-Gom prison is located at one of the isolated peaks of Tavan Bogd Mountains, sir," 724 answered.

"Very good," Yut replied, making it seem as if he was asking them like a test. "Now, tell me what this prison is meant for."

"This prison was built to last and contain the most notorious criminal, Tai Lung," he replied.

"Yes, and how many exits are there in this prison?" Yut continued to ask.

"Only one sir," he answered.

But then Yut got a bit too curious, and thoughts of keeping it unsuspecting died off. "What exactly did Tai Lung do?"

"I am not allowed to have normal conversations, sir," the guard replied. Yut winced, realizing how he asked it.

"Err… right. Carry on," Yut said as he immediately left from the vicinity. He went out to the nearby third bridge and sucked in a breath. He leaned on the half-wall let out a long sigh. "Is there _anyone_ I can properly talk to here?" the wolf said.

But as he looked down he noticed that there might be one last person who he could talk with.

He made his way down through the pulley until the long descent finally reached him towards the prisoner. Yut inspected him as he made he approached him. Apart from the fact that he was chained to two stalagmites making him hang freely in the air, he deemed him a normal snow leopard; he had a white chest, and going around him he had a darker gray of fur from his front shoulders and arms and all the way to his back, spotted with black ringed-brown spots.

After going him in a complete clockwise direction, he made his way back to his front. Yut then noticed that wasn't hearing him breathe, and that worried him. If that were the case, then he might as well be in a prison with lunatics guarding a corpse.

Wanting to make sure it was otherwise, the wolf approached him even closer. He could feel a distinct warm atmosphere around the snow leopard, which might be enough as proof. But just to be really sure, he slowly placed his palm on the left side of his chest and felt his heart beat. His chest was warmer than his atmosphere, and feeling it beat he could almost feel his own.

"Don't. Touch me." A voice uttered as Yut retracted his paw. The voice came from nowhere else but the one shackled in front of him.

"Oh, good," Yut said enthusiastically. "So you _are_ alive. I was beginning to think they were all guarding a corpse or something."

Yut and Tai Lung took a long odd stare at each other. Tai Lung felt a bit annoyed by the sudden disturbance, but Yut seemed happy enough that there might be someone to talk to.

"You've got a lot of nerve to walk up and go as far to touch me," Tai Lung grimaced. "You do realize who's in front of you, don't you?"

"Tai Lung. That's your name, right?" Yut replied. The snow leopard noticed the almost blank expression on his face.

"…Is that all you know about me?" Tai Lung asked.

Yut shrugged. "Other than they keep calling you a criminal, pretty much," he answered.

"_Great. Even my ill-reputation has gone down the drain…_" Tai Lung moaned in his mind. He then saw the wolf come up closer to him and sat down on the cold stone floor, making himself comfortable. "What do you want?" Tai Lung asked.

The wolf smiled. "Just hoping for someone to talk to," Yut said.

Tai Lung raised an eyebrow. "That's it?" he said while looking down at him. "And when did the Anvil of Heaven let wolves in to their ranks?"

"Hmm? Oh, no, they all think I came from the Royal Palace, but to be honest I don't have any idea where I am." Yut said. Tai Lung remained silent. He felt that he didn't need to say anything to him, or to anyone at all.

After a few seconds of silence, Yut tried prying a bit harder. "Come on, help a guy out. I'm pretty clueless here!"

"Pity won't work on me, boy," he coldly answered.

The wolf persisted; he wasn't taking no for an answer. He joined the palm of his hands together and pleaded to him, "Pleeeaase."

"Pretty pretty please." After a few more incessant pestering, Tai Lung couldn't hold his temper.

"If I answer your questions, will you _please_ leave me alone," he said. Yut happily nodded.

"Right, first of all, do you know who I am?" Yut asked.

Tai Lung squinted angrily at him with his terrible question. "And you expect me to be able to answer that?" he growled.

"Just a shot in the dark really. Even I don't know who I am," Yut replied. "You see, I can't seem to remember anything or have any memories at all"

"My, isn't that unfortunate," Tai Lung mocked.

"_Okay… just get it together and everything will work out fine," _he cooled off. Its strange, how he can't recall ever doing it before yet it feels so familiar. "Alright, let's start over," the wolf said. He got up on his feet and bowed down to the leopard. "Hi, my name's Yut."

Tai Lung inspected the odd wolf in front of him. He'd expect amnesiacs to be less straight-forward, but then again he's never met one before.

Yut started off with asking basic trivial questions. Things like where they were in the world, questions about society, mostly questions that would involve history. Yut seemed to be know much about general knowledge, which was again another odd thing about him that Tai Lung noticed. He didn't need to learn any ancient art of medicine to know that amnesia wasn't specific with memory loss like this.

The questions went on, and almost as if he had lost himself, Tai Lung began to lose some memory himself. There were questions he couldn't answer and while answering he forgot ever hating him about asking him anything.

Rather sooner than later however, Yut stopped asking history question and went off into casual ones. "Do you think they'll hear us from here?" Yut asked.

"The ones left from the one-thousand are guarding at the upper bridges. I doubt they'd be able to even see us," Tai Lung answered, before realizing that he answered it in a rather kind tone.

Yut widened his eyes in surprise. "How can you tell?" he asked.

"I've… got a keen sense of smell," he said nervously, shying away from the normal conversation.

"That's pretty amazing," Yut said excitedly. "Wish I could do that,"

"It takes years to develop perfection in – bah – what am I talking about here." The snow leopard refused to continue his answer.

"Perfection in what?" the wolf inquired. Yut seemed enthusiastic to know, like a child's curiosity.

Tai Lung felt a bit embarrassed in telling him, but he thought of rather answering it than having the wolf pestering him about it. "It's… about mastering the five senses as you apply in martial arts," he said. Talking casually about kung fu seemed alien to him; even more so with just talking casually.

"Wow, that's so cool!" Yut beamed. "I wish I was like that!"

It was a strange feeling, but Tai Lung smiled. It had been years since he had been proud for his knowledge of martial arts.

But then, when Yut took a brief pause in thinking of questions, he trailed off into picking a personal one. "So… why are you in prison?" the wolf asked. Tai Lung instantly switched moods and squinted angrily at him with a small growl.

Yut wished he could take back his question. Seeing the now uncomfortable wolf, Tai Lung had second thoughts and even felt willing to share his story. His stare relaxed into his normal grouchy face, and without a word from his audience he closed his eyes for a brief moment, and started to speak.

"Years ago, they said I was found abandoned at the gates of the Jade Palace. There, I was found by red panda and raised all throughout my life. He adopted me as his father. I had a tender childhood, and life to be honest was sweet." Tai Lung smiled as he reveled in his memories. Looking back now, it all seemed different. He could almost see the scenes in his eyes. "At a certain age, I began my training. Mornings became sleepless nights, knuckles and bones were broken, hardly a patch of fur unscathed from fire, going up a mountain of stairs became a routine exercise, and in the end I persevered."

The wolf listened attentively as Tai Lung conveyed to him what he never went back to before in his entire life. "And it was all for a touch of destiny. My father, erm Shifu, told me that it was destiny to obtain the Dragon Scroll, said to contain the ultimate kung fu secret – 'the key to limitless power'." The leopard could see Yut sitting in awe, and the entertainer was entertained himself. But he knew that far off in the story, things would end up bitterly. "I had devoted my life, in what seemed was my purpose from when I only a cub, into mastering Kung Fu and become the Dragon Warrior. I mastered the thousand scrolls of Kung Fu, all but one. And in time the moment I awaited came. I stood at the Hall of Warriors, where the Dragon Scroll hanged from the ceiling plain in sight. I stood there with my hearts beating in exhilaration, that the time for my life's effort to be rewarded. Shifu, my…" Tai Lung cringed for a moment before admitting it. "… father, stood beside his master to presented to him who he believed had trained to become the hero of China. But then-"

Tai Lung cut himself off for a moment. Yut anticipated anxiously for the rest of the story to go on. "What happened next?" he asked.

Then, a hole in chest began to be filled with an old anger boiling with spite. "Master Oogway, Shifu's master and he who would give the Dragon Scroll, said otherwise. I was confused, and all the more so when I turned to face Shifu and he simply obeyed his master without a word of denial. The moment afterwards, I kept asking myself 'Had I done anything wrong?', 'Was there something I lacked?', 'Haven't I done everything I could?'" Tai Lung could feel himself reenact the turmoil he'd felt. "In a blind rage, I destroyed everything I could see. I laid waste to the entire Valley of Peace, to show them what I was capable of. And after so much chaos I've sprung, they did not move from the Jade Palace. If they wouldn't come to me, I came to them. I broke down every door at the Jade Palace, and I planned to take the scroll by force. Shifu tried to stop me first, but his weakness had overtaken him and I took him down. As I reached for the Dragon Scroll, Master Oogway stopped me, without me even noticing."

"And soon after… I was brought here, to Chorh-Gom Prison, rotting for twenty years so I could take back what was rightfully mine." Tai Lung began to have hint of spite in his tone, and Yut slowly became less willing in hearing his story. "And after twenty years, I was finally able to escape. I made my way to back to the Jade Palace, faced his new students, the 'Furious Five', and I had beaten them."

But his newest student," Tai Lung began to be painted with disdain, "who didn't even stay for over a week, and a panda of all things, became the Dragon Warrior; what I had strive my entire life for. In our combat, all I aimed for was the Dragon Scroll in his hands. But when I finally laid my hands on it and opened it…" Tai Lung paused for a breath, as if reliving the moment itself, "...there was nothing. He said, that there was no 'secret ingredient'. That it was just _you_. All my life seemed to have whittled down the drain for nothing but an obscure fundamental truth. I aimed to beat who Shifu chose as the Dragon Warrior. But in the end… he defeated me."

Tai Lung grew silent, however Yut's questions multiplied. "Woah woah, wait- that's it? You mean to tell me that's how you ended up here? From where you started and all?" Yut interrogated..

"I'm not surprised you'd think I was wrong for my actions," Tai Lung said.

"What? No no no... to be honest, I kind of understand why you'd get angry and all, minus all the chaos and destruction you did," Yut said. "Althought… it does seem a bit too much."

The snow leopard gave him a menacing look. Quickly, Yut tried to clarify the misunderstanding. "I-I mean, it just seems all unnecessary and stuff-"

"I don't think you really did understand," Tai Lung retorted.

Yut fell silent, but immediately regained his composure. "You're right. Maybe I don't, after all how would I know? I hardly know anything," he said, "But all I know is that I'm talking based on my own opinion, nothing anyone ever taught me about. Something completely out of my own without anyone's influence."

It was Tai Lung's turn to be silent. If he ever got scolded, he'd usually point the finger at the other person and wouldn't admit his own shortcomings. "I... I'm sorry. I suppose I overstepped there," he said, almost choking. After so much time alone, he slowly learned to swallow his own pride.

The wolf's serious look relaxed to a smile. "Man... the way you acted with that... it seemed as though every person in the world is prejudiced with at least one thing. Being hypocrites in ways they didn't know they were." Yut feeling a bit sad about what his first impression of the world. "And I can't believe they won't at least give any second chance to you at all."

"They deemed my actions were… unforgivable," Tai Lung answered. "And they probably think I wouldn't change no matter how many chances they'd give me. So here I am, one year after my defeat, rotting in jail for the rest of my life."

"I get why they'd punish someone for doing something bad, but twenty years in here… it seems so… horrible." The wolf felt bad for him, and glanced towards his shackles. "But… you can escape right now, can't you?"

Tai Lung yanked gently on his chains, and with a grin he admittedly could. "I can… but I have no desire to be free."

"Huh? Why not?" Yut asked.

The snow leopard averted his eyes. "All my life I aimed for that one object, and once I obtained it… I… I didn't know what else to do…"

Yut sank down on the floor. "Well, that's good at least."

"What?" Tai Lung quizzed, suddenly turning his head towards the wolf.

"I mean, at least you still don't feel angry at them, right?" Yut said.

Tai Lung sucked in a breath and let out a loud sigh. "Actually… I still do. Every bit of spite of them, I still have it. But… somehow… there's something else I'm angrier at."

"Something… else?" Yut inquired.

"Something… bigger to me. Maybe something like… the world, or the universe. Just… one big thing." Tai Lung was facing upwards, wondering what in the world it was. Yut looked up as well, wondering about the same thing. What else could be bigger than the world, he thought.

The snow leopard brought his head down and faced the wolf and smirked. "You mentioned me being able to escape, didn't you? Did you want me to be free?"

Yut brought down his gaze towards him. "Uh, well, that's not really for me to decide, isn't it?" he replied with a smile. Tai Lung chuckled, and in that moment he realized he had experienced his first interaction with normal humor.

"You're a strange one, you know?" Tai Lung mentioned, giving him a curious look.

"What do you mean by that?" Yut asked. "It involves the part about me having amnesia, doesn't it?"

"Actually... yes. It does," he answered. "There's... something different about you."

The wolf perked his ears up in interest. "What do you mean?" he queried.

"For someone with amnesia, it seems very... unique, in a sense," the snow leopard said. "You know a number of basic knowledge like speech and of other things, but you don't seem to remember anything else you might have learned at the same time you learned those things. It seems too... unlikely."

"I wouldn't really know," Yut replied. "Maybe its not really impossible." He gave him a wink and they passed it off with a laugh. But after a while, out of nowhere, a yawn came out from the wolf. He felt tired, and he didn't know the last time he had ever slept.

"You should probably go," Tai Lung told him.

Yut raised an eyebrow. "Oh no no, I'm not really sleepy."

"Well then, unless you want to be caught talking to a prisoner, which I doubt would be allowed, I suggest you go find the barracks," Tai Lung said.

"What do you mean?" Yut asked.

"A guard comes down here, one of those 'crazy ones', and stands on guard for the rest of the night," he answered.

"How do you know its night?" Yut jested. "Is that another Kung Fu skill you know about?"

"No," Tai Lung replied and looked up. "I just know what moonlight looks like." Lucent beams pierced through tiny holes at the sides of the top part of the stronghold.

"Oh… right." Yut realized it, and again Tai Lung chuckled at his innocent idiocy. Yut got up and bowed down to him once again. The snow leopard wondered if he knew any other form of greeting.

He watched him walk away and go up the pulley. Yut smiled towards him as he went up, but when Tai Lung noticed, he averted his eyes. The wolf craned his head to the side, wondering why he would react like that.

"_So that's what a normal conversation is like._" Tai Lung began to talk to himself in his mind. He had felt so many new things that almost felt alien to him. "_It's… nice. But maybe I shouldn't let this happen again._.." He believed that having less contact with other people would make him more comfortable. But, after having a conversation with the wolf, he started having doubts.

The guard Tai Lung said about soon went down the pulley a few minutes after Yut had gone up. The guard held a spear and held it close to his chest as he attentively watched him. He simply ignored him.

Yut found the barracks, and there were hardly any guards sleeping inside. All of the wooden beds were kept and tidy. He went to the one at the corner and slumped down at the side. It was comfortable enough, he judged. But like most things, he couldn't remember if he had slept in one before.

Not that it mattered now. Right now, he was tired, and he immediately fell fast asleep before he even noticed that he closed his eyes.


	2. Locks and Keys

_A/N: Well this is embarrassing. I didn't _notice my mistake here. Nonetheless, here's the REAL chapter 2.

* * *

><p>The pulley system ascended back to the lower bridge as the lights of daybreak peeked through tiny holes in the ceiling. Yut hid beside the door at the other end of the bridge as the rhino guard emerged from elevator. The wolf hid behind the door as the guard passed through and went up the stairs. Soon as he was out of sight, he dashed towards the pulley and went down.<p>

The memory-lost wolf woke up early from excited anticipation. He enjoyed talking with the leopard, and he couldn't wait for their next conversation. Going down, he could see Tai Lung at the base of the platform, still hanging where he was from before. The moment he reached the lowest floor, he made his way towards him.

"Hey Tai!" Yut called out. The shackled snow leopard didn't respond. The wolf raised an eyebrow as he continued to walk towards him. "Hey, you okay?"

The wolf waved his hand across his face, but Tai Lung remained his head tucked down. "Hello?" said Yut as he neared his ear to his face, hearing him breathe through his nostrils.

Again, not a sound came from the Kung Fu warrior. Yut thought he was just playing with him, so he thought of playing along as well. He crept up around and behind the Tai Lung, reached out his arms through and across his belly, and quickly dashed his fingers across his fur.

"Kuchi-kuchi-koo!" he jested as he tickled the snow leopard's abs. Nothing but a short exhaled breath came from him. Tai Lung was probably a quarter-foot taller than him, and with another-quarter foot from hanging in mid-air Yut had to raise his hands high.

"What are you doing?" said Tai Lung in a low menacing tone, annoyed by the light dancing of touch on his body.

Yut froze his fingers there for a moment before drawing his arms back. "I was… tickling you?" he responded.

There went Tai Lung's attempt to ignore him, but he knew it was a long shot. "And for what reason would you need to do that?" he replied. "And last time I checked, my name isn't just _Tai_"

"Hmm? Oh, well, I just thought it'd be better to call you that," Yut said. "I mean, the Lung part really isn't that necessary, is it?"

The snow leopard wanted to retort about his name, but the memory of acquiring it in the first place flashed in his mind, and he instantly drew back all thoughts of doing so and went back to being silent. Suddenly, the thoughts were replaced by an enticing smell that came from the wolf. His sniffing was audible enough for Yut to hear.

Yut was wearing a brown satchel over his left shoulder. The bag rustled as Yut reached his hand in towards its contents.

"Here." Yut handed towards Tai Lung's face a crisp piece of bread, still retaining its fresh enticing scent. "I snuck it out of the prison kitchen. Go on, eat it." First glance of the delicious-looking pastry caught Tai Lung salivating in a blank stare. It was as if the sun shone the light to the darkness in his eyes. It took him a long moment to snap back into reality.

"I-I'm not hungry," Tai Lung said, trying to avert his eyes from the delectable image of sweet ambrosia. Suddenly, a long growl stirred nearby. And it didn't come from another individual.

"Now that's absurd. It looks like your stomach disagrees with you," Yut said before looking around the leopard for any conspicuous signs. "And it doesn't look like they feed you with anything. Do they even feed you at all?"

Tai kept his eyes away from the bread facing Yut. A long deniable silence was the only answer Yut could take.

"Wait- they don't? How can you even survive!" the wolf asked surprisingly. "Wait! Don't tell me! It's another Kung Fu thing, isn't it?"

"It is said that the Dragon Warrior can survive for months at a time with nothing but the dew of a single Gingko leaf, and the energy of the universe." Tai Lung mentioned before accidentally taking a glance towards him and the bread and quickly went back to averting his eyes. "N-not that any of that matters now…"

"Well, I don't know what a Ginkgo leaf is but I don't think there's any here, and I do know that you probably need _something_ to eat 'cause I don't think universe energy is edible," Yut said before bringing up the tasty piece of pastry. "So, come on, just eat this"

"N-no!" Other than the fact that his life in the Jade Palace had trained him with survival and endurance, his pride prevented him having to be fed by a person he'd only met yesterday. His training did involve him starving weeks on end along with sleepless nights, but staring at that certain piece of bread starved him as much as a famine would starve an entire village.

"Come on, it's just a piece of bread. It isn't poisoned or anything." The wolf said encouragingly.

"Just-just get it away from me! I'm not hungry!" Tai Lung denied, but his stomach protested otherwise with a loud growl. "_Shut__up,__stomach!"_he shouted in his mind.

Yut waved the enamoring bread left and right, held both sides of the bread and broke it apart with a delightful crunch, letting out the warm bewitching aroma out and filled Tai Lung's nostrils with a temptation he could hardly resist. "It soft and cheewwwyyy," he cooed.

Tai Lung could almost feel his moist tongue wanting to jump onto its rough yet soft texture. He could feel himself inching towards it. His mind chanted "No!" yet his body could not help itself.

"It'd be a waste to let it go cold." Yut brought one half towards his mouth, widened his jaw and savored it upon entry. With every lift and bite of jaw the wolf portrayed made the leopard's jawbone throb, wanting to make the same movement. He made a pleasant moan as he savored yet another unfamiliar thing of importance in his memory. Every chew Yut made was like an agonizing hour as it played in Tai Lung's mind in slow-mo all until he swallowed.

And just as Yut began to move the other half away from his audience's face and towards his, Tai Lung couldn't hold it any much longer. If he had to, he might have broken the shackles that bound him in his prison. Tai pushed his chest forward and protruded his head, snatching the small piece of bread with his bare teeth.

With the food in his mouth, he hastily grinded at it like a hungry dog. And, before finally swallowing, he took slow delicate chews that passed through every corner of his mouth, sinking in the flavor all around. He did not realize it until know that his all his taste buds tasted all those years before in prison was nothing but dust.

As the food passed down his throat, he could hear his stomach praising the gods as if it were manna from heaven, followed by screaming and pleading for more. The moment after Tai Lung licked his lips in satisfaction, he had realized that his host was standing happily with a grin right across him, sticking out a bit of his tongue.

"It's really good, isn't it?" he beamed.

"I-I've tasted better," Tai Lung replied, denying the fact that he did like it.

"Well, I still have some more here if you want," Yut said, as he reached in to the rest of his brown satchel more sweet warm bread. "Couldn't catch it with your superior senses, can't you?"

The leopard narrowed his eyes, but not of deep contempt, only slightly. As if easily passing it off.

When the wolf brought the bread to him, he no longer hesitated eat more. Yut delicately passed the bread towards his mouth, and Tai ate it less impatiently than the first.

"This is demeaning," Tai Lung mentioned as he ate the first piece of bread. His felt his pride almost literally being stepped on.

"No it isn't," Yut replied. "What's so demeaning about it?"

"The fact that I'm being fed like a child," Tai answered.

"No your not," he lectured. "It's a thing between friends, am I right? There's nothing wrong about that at all"

"_Friend__…__?_" thought Tai Lung. It was a strange word to him, but he knew the definition well. What it meant to _have_ a friend though, was an experience alien to him. Whether he regarded Yut to be his friend at all, he didn't really know. He would mind, after all, since he seemed to be spending the rest of his life in prison. But the fact about the awkward mysterious wolf whom he just met still remained. Tai Lung kept silent as another piece of bread went to his mouth.

After a few more minutes of simply eating, the two once again started off with normal conversation. Tai Lung related to Yut more on the history of China, and what he learned from studying scrolls other than about kung fu back in the Jade Palace.

"And the great general prevented a war that would have lasted another hundred years," Tai Lung trailed off while Yut listened.

"Wow, it's amazing you remember all this stuff," the wolf replied.

Tai Lung wanted to mention it was a part of his training, but he kept it instead as he realized it might make him sound more boastful. But even without him mentioning it, Yut could not help but ask another personal question.

"Hey Tai," Yut said. "I've been thinking about, you know, your past"

"What about it?" Tai Lung said in a deflective tone.

"Have you ever, I mean, would you have ever chosen that life?" he inquired.

The leopard raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, let's say you were adopted by a normal family. And by normal, I mean no kung fu-ey thing." Yut explained. Tai Lung's plain facial expression told him to go on. "And let's say you heard about it, would you go and learn it?"

Tai took a silent pause of thought. "I… never really thought about it. Back at the Jade Palace-" He cut himself off as he realized he was trailing off back into how he was raised again, but urged himself to continue a moment after. "Back at the Jade Palace, all I did was focus on my training. My master… Shifu… told me that I was destined for greatness. And that alone was the drive that kept me reaching for a star that shined I know not where."

"So, are you saying you did all those things because this Shifu guy told you?" the wolf asked.

"Everything I did, I did of my own volition. They all have nothing to do with any of it," he replied, with a hint of spite in his voice.

"Then if you wanted to be a farmer, you could've just left and did just that?" Yut wanted to clarify.

"What? No! I mean – why would I ever want to be a peasant?" Tai Lung replied.

"No no no, what I meant was, if you ever wanted to be something else, would've you become that person instead?" Yut said.

"_Becoming __a __Kung __Fu __Warrior __was __all __I __ever __wanted __to __be,_" Tai Lung rang in his mind. He contemplated his thoughts and pondered upon them. _"It was... my destiny... what __I __had._" Perhaps having a parent, no matter how he tried to deny the fact that he had one, was what had made him into what he was. Would he have been left in front the doors of a merchant or noble, perhaps his life was different. But being told of the potential he had and the environment he was raised in, he realized that there couldn't have been any other dream for him.

Tai Lung shot a glance towards the wolf in front of him, and scoffed. "I don't remember ever letting you ask these kinds of questions," he deflected, not wanting to give him the answer he had.

"Oh – I'm sorry. I… didn't mean to pry," Yut apologized. "I just… wanted to know more how life would be when you're young." The wolf mustered a smile, as if joking about it, even though it pained him to say it. "After all, I don't have any memories."

Tai Lung could see the frown behind the mask. The leopard didn't mean to hurt him, and in most cases he naturally wouldn't care. How he had such an anti-social attitude, was probably because of living in solitude without anyone else.

"Look…" he said, trying to be discreet from his answer and kind in his tone. "Some parts in a person's life are complicated, and it's not good to make them remember it. So keep that in mind. You've got to respect what other people have, even because… you don't have what they do…" he trailed off.

Yut wondered what he meant by that, but he did cheer up. The mask he wore slowly dissolved into his real face. "Alright, I'll do better next time I talk to you"

"I meant with other people too," said Tai Lung. "You don't plan on talking with just me, are you?"

"What's wrong with that?" he winked. "You're pretty good to have a conversation with, compared to these rhinos"

"Heh, you don't even need a long span of memory to find a better comparison," Tai Lung joked, which made the wolf laugh up a bit. Cracking up a joke from him could've been deemed impossible by the furious five.

"And its not like you have anyone else to talk to either, right?" Yut mentioned.

"Well someday you've got to leave this place, aren't you? You don't expect them all to buy that fraud story you've come up with. Sooner or later, Vachir is going to come back, and you'll have to leave before then." Tai explained.

Yut scratched the back of his neck. "You are right about that," he said before beaming his eyes.

"One day, you'll get out there and learn about the world and see for yourself everything I've told you about," the snow leopard said. When he became such a thoughtful sensitive person, he never would've guessed. But there it was, the words coming out of his mouth as proof.

"Then I guess I'll have to learn all I can until then!" Yut said enthusiastically. "Please teach me, master!"

"Don't kid about that phrase," Tai Lung added.

"Yes, sensei!" Yut said as he bowed down to him. Tai Lung didn't feel annoyed at all at his impertinent behavior, in which would usually enrage him. In fact, this time he felt a bit happy. Little by little, as they spend time together, they could feel themselves change from what they thought they were, even Tai Lung. Especially Tai Lung.

Any amount of days one would look forward to would usually pass by without another second's thought. But surprises always happen in the end, which last longer than every moment in the world.

Two weeks since their first encounter, Yut woke up, if the opposite of the expression existed, in the _right_ side of the bed. Popping his neck left and right, he had high hopes that another wonderful day would happen once again.

Those two weeks he spent with a prisoner named Tai Lung, a snow leopard he had cleverly nicknamed as Tai. He did his best to avoid asking personal questions, since Tai Lung didn't seem at all comfortable with it. He had based numerous questions about history, some involved objects he had no knowledge of, and some he had even mistaken for something else.

But strangely, even with his curiosity of the world in analogy was like a child's desire to check the view from the steepest peak of the tallest mountain, he didn't bother about what were the memories he had before. Thinking about it now made him curious of it however, but the time of pondering for it was about to be set aside.

The midnight guard ascended from the pulley, and as he did every morning he hid behind the door at the other end of the bridge and waited for him cross. The moment he was about to sneak up from behind him he made his way through the bridge. But the guard stop before it could pass by him as they heard a very loud thud.

"Where is he!" boomed an angry rhino that stormed out of entrance, the door slamming towards the wall. His voice echoed across the dark fortress, audible enough for the wolf to recognize who it was.

The rhino was only wearing a large white undershirt with blue swim trunks. One of the guards went towards him and greeted him along with the almost a thousand more rhinos him. "Welcome back, Commander Vachir. How was your vacation?" he said.

Vachir was huffing angrily. "I just came here straight from my vacation when I learned that the Royal Palace **didn't** send any replacement guards!" the commander roared.

"_Not __good __not __good__…__!"_Yut trembled.

"Now I don't know what's worse; having no replacement guards sent, or the fact that we've got ourselves an intruder! Find him! Find that wolf!" Vachir commanded. The guard near him had just passed through Yut, giving him the opportunity to slide through him as he always did. But as he started to run across the bridge, his heavy footsteps gave way to his cover. The guard nearby noticed and quickly alerted the others.

"He's over here!" he shouted. The rest of the Anvil of Heaven leaned down and caught sight of the caped wolf.

"After him!" Vachir snarled.

The guard from a while ago was already too late as Yut went to descend down the pulley. The others rushed down as the slow elevator made his way to the lower platform. But around a few meters high, the elevator began to slow down and a few moments after it came to a halt. The guards were holding unto the chains that was making it go down, and the slowly worked to bring it back up.

Yut glanced down and back up, and saw there was no other choice. He went down from the edge of the pulley and grabbed hold with his hands, dangling in mid air. Soon after, he let go, and the decreased height made him survive the fall. As the elevator gradually went back up, Yut sped towards the center of the platform.

"Looks like your time's up, boy," Tai Lung said as the wolf was making his way towards him.

"What should I do what should I do!" Yut stammered nervously.

"You should've tried to make your way back outside," the snow leopard said.

"Are you kidding? There are about a thousand of those muscle-headed rhinos!" the wolf replied.

"I don't think it's impossible, I'm sure you could've beaten them up," Tai Lung said sarcastically.

"Haha, I forgot how to laugh," Yut remarked.

A large clank sound echoed, meaning the elevator had gone back up. "You could've at least tried."

"And then what? Earth to Tai, we're at a mountain! And I don't have the slightest idea for directions!" Yut retorted.

"It would've been a better alternative that coming down here," Tai Lung said. " And what exactly were you intending to do on your escape?"

"I… uhh…" Yut muttered. The elevator finally started going down, and they could see Vachir and a few of the rhino guards descending towards the platform. "I… never really thought about it."

"Well then you better think quickly," Tai Lung told him as his continued to run out. Yut thought hardly, and realized that if anyone could escape the prison, it was the person in front of him.

"Okay, ummm," the wolf said as the idea popped in his mind. "You never really saw the world on your own, right?"

"Where are you getting at?" Tai Lung asked.

"I obviously don't know much about the world either, so here's what I propose: Let's go on a world trip together!" Yut suggested.

Tai Lung gave him an odd stare that lasted a few seconds. "Are you out of your mind?"

"Come on, it's a great idea! It's a win-win situation!" he encouraged.

"You really think I'd want to break out of this prison?" the leopard retorted.

"Please Tai! You're the _only_ person who could do that. And for what better reason?" he pleaded.

"I refuse!" Tai Lung rejected. The elevator had finally landed down, and Yut walked towards his back.

"Then do you think you could convince them to let me go?" Yut whimpered.

Commander Vachir made his way towards them along with a few of the Anvil of Heaven, all wearing swimming gear. "Get over here, you little brat," he drummed. "And don't even think about hiding behind the prisoner."

"Vachir, what a surprise. You actually came to visit me," Tai Lung said.

"I'm not talking to _you_, Tai Lung," Vachir growled. "I'm talking to the one behind you,"

"So is this what the Anvil of Heaven do now?" Tai mocked. "Nothing but a baby-sitting service that can't even see intruders in plain sight."

"Ummm, Tai… you're just making them angrier…" Yut whispered.

"Shut up you! You're not half as frightening as you were before. You're nothing but a washed up criminal!" the rhino shouted angrily. "Nothing but an accident!"

Tai Lung growled at the last comment. "I bet I could break all the bones in your body without having to lift a single finger," he grimaced.

"Ooooh, I'm so scaaared." Vachir mocked in a whimpering tone. "I can't even beat up a panda! Hahaha!" He and the rest of the guards all boomed in laughter. All from the lowest platform to the highest bridge were the rhino guards drunk with hilarity. Hearing them cackle idiotically at him pushed his temper off the edge. He clenched his fists, and the chains tied around his arms rattled as he tugged hardly at them. One hard pull, and both stalagmites broke apart as Tai Lung crossed his arms in a direction making them slam swing in mid air and slam in unison in both of Vachir's face. It knocked him out with his face holding a wide smile. When his body collapsed on the ground, the surprised faces the guards were now wearing were revealed in front of them. Tai held the cuffs with opposite hands and broke them apart.

"All right! Way to go Tai!" bellowed Yut as he immediately jumped on the snow leopard's back and held tightly.

"What the- get off me!" Tai Lung snarled as he tried to shake him off.

Yut caught sight of a rhino charging in with a snorkel. "Tai, look out!" he alerted. Tai Lung looked straight ahead without hesitation and punched the guard right in the chest, throwing all the other behind him.

The wolf kept his jaw wide open in awe. "Woah…" he uttered in amazement.

Tai Lung jumped high up towards the chains that held the pulley and grabbed unto it and started climbing up. Yut held on tightly to him, locking his arms around his neck. Once Tai Lung got on level ground, he made a 360 degree spin with arms on the chain rope and kicked the two guards nearby. He then one by one beat up the unarmed guards and knocked them out. They were all still wearing their unfashionable swimming gear. One was still wearing a floater around him, and the leopard kicked him and made him roll on his side, knocking the other guards away. The wolf watched as he saw a multitude of trained guards beaten up by a single person with a moment's effort.

After cleaning up the third bridge, Tai Lung made his was up towards the second. Seeing nothing but an empty lane, he proceeded towards the first. He climbed up the wall with his claws, Yut struggling not to let go. On the third were a few guards that were actually armed, those that stayed behind when the others went on vacation.

Not that it mattered, as the Kung Fu warrior made short work of them. No matter how many swords they could hold or how far they could swing their mace, the snow leopard was too quick and strong for them to be of any match. Even with a load on his back, it did not hinder him from beating up every single one of them. He punched, clawed, kicked, threw and slammed every rhino that went in his way.

While Tai Lung was beating up those in front of him, Yut noticed one coming up from behind. The wolf quickly jumped his feet from Tai Lung's back and jerked it up, kicking the guard from behind. Tai turned around to hear a loud thud from behind. After seeing the knocked out guard, he glanced towards Yut with a surprise look.

"…what?" the wolf said. Brushing it off, Tai Lung then continued to the next bridge above them. There were more guards, and Yut began to imagine how many there were. Those that came from vacation were now holding weapons… along with their swimming trunks.

As the rhinos charged in with a battle cry, Tai ignorantly muttered, "They never learn…" Once again the snow leopard came up and defeated each one with them being able to swing their arms even once. As the number of unconscious bodies multiplied, the only ones left standing on the bridge were them.

Finally, Tai Lung started moving up towards the main bridge. Yut relentlessly held on to him. The leopard's warm fur brushing upon his bare arms was a pleasing sensation.

Speculating upon the number of guards Tai had already beaten up, the wolf couldn't imagine any more guards on the next bridge. But there was one last left standing in their way.

Near the door was a guard grinning at them. Around his arm he held a red rocket with teeth and menacing eyes designed in front. "Number 626 comin' at ya!" the guard shouted. He lit a match against the rocket's surface and lit up the rope. It immediately burned and the rocket burst from his arms and seared towards Yut and Tai Lung.

"Look out! It's coming right at us!" Yut warned.

Tai Lung readied himself and anticipated the coming rocket. The wolf grew nervous as the rocket came closer towards them, and Tai Lung not moving an inch from his position. Yut clenched harder around his neck, in which any harder would have been an attempt to choke him.

A moment before the rocket landed on him, Tai effortlessly pushed his hand up from below it, making it turn around vertically. The rocket then sped its way towards to last of the Anvil of Heaven and exploded on impact.

The door burst open and revealed the white snowy mountain range. Tai Lung leisurely walked towards the exit. Dark smoke clouds went up and disappeared in the white foggy blizzard. The moment he was out, the wolf finally let go and placed his feet on the snowy ground.

"That was awesome!" Yut shouted excitedly. "That was totally unbelievable! You were like _pow _and **kablam**! Man, you've got to teach me some of those moves!"

But while Yut praised Tai Lung, the snow leopard simply ignored him and trudged onwards through the snowy terrain. "He-hey! Wait up!" the wolf yelled. He dashed towards him and stopped in front of him. "Where are you going?"

Tai simply brushed him aside and continue walking forward. Yut once again went up to him and decided to walk with him. "I thought we were in this together," he mentioned.

"Let's get something straight here, 'kay?" Tai Lung said facing towards him. "There is no _we_ here. In fact, if it wasn't for me, there wouldn't even be a _you_!" he taunted.

"Well then that means that I'm _your_ responsibility," Yut replied with a simplistic tone.

"What?" Tai Lung blurted.

"That's right. So that means your gonna have to take care of me," the wolf smiled.

Tai Lung brought his face close towards his. "Let's not forget the fact that I can snap you like a twig," he snarled.

"Then you'll just be reliving your mistakes all over again," Yut answered cunningly. Tai Lung became less tense from the comment and drew himself back. He then turned and continued to ignore him.

As their distance grew, Yut huffed and shouted to him, "If you're not going to be compassionate about it, you can at least try to be sympathetic." Tai stopped on his tracks and glanced towards him. The cold wind from the snow storm blew over their fur. "I know I'm asking a lot, and that I'm being pretty selfish here," Yut said. "But like it or not, you're the only one I can count on."

The snow leopard gave it a moment's thought. A mistake, an accident, whatever the things he's learned back in the temple, might seem to be unlikely. He once believed to become the Dragon Warrior, the savior of China. When did all those morals and hopes disappear to?

Tai Lung then reflected his gaze towards the wolf through the fog of snow. What if he were him? Not the part about being completely helpless, but the part about having his past forgotten and only having the present once again. A rebirth, so to speak. And the wolf even offered him words of wisdom before, no matter how nonchalant they seem to be. Maybe it was time indeed for a change.

After a long deep sigh, he made his decision. "Fine," the snow leopard muttered. Upon hearing, the wolf's ears perked up and beamed as he sprang up towards him enthusiastically. But before Yut could say anything, Tai quickly told him, "But I'm only taking you as far to the village nearby, so promise me you'll leave me alone after that."

"Alright, alright deal," Yut said, rolling his eyes. Tai Lung had a feeling Yut wasn't serious with agreeing with the deal, or was thinking that the whole thing was just a joke. But either way, the wolf was sticking along with him. And he might actually just have to get along with him.


	3. Losing Ourselves

At the base of the Taban Bogd Mountains, the climate gradually grew very warm. The vibrant glow of the beginning sunset shimmered across the eyes of a certain wolf and leopard. They had been walking for a while, and only in a matter of a few moments their silent trip became rather clamorous.

"Wow…" said Yut, watching the great big orange orb dying into the horizon. "So that's what a sunset looks like…"

His companion ignored him. But the further they walked various floras and vegetation came into view, which made things harder for the snow leopard to ignore his benign curiosity.

"Wow…" Yut repeated enthusiastically, "So these are what plants look like"

Tai Lung brought his hand up and covered his forehead. "If you're going to let everything bother you, it's going to be a _long _day"

But, empty-mindedly, his remark fell on deaf ears as Yut found another object of fascination. Hearing the wolf act the same way, Tai Lung sighed as he wiped his palm down his face. "What a troublesome fellow."

While walking, Yut's ears perked up as his ears caught a familiar yet unrecognized curious swishing sound. "Hey, Tai!" he called out to the snow leopard in front of him. "Over here!"

Tai Lung turned around to see only the wolf's tail as Yut passed through the trees into a forest path. "Why won't I just ditch him?" he mumbled to himself with a scowl. Nonetheless, he followed Yut through the hidden forest path.

Inside the forest, the wind was moist and cool. The overhanging branches and leaves shaded them from the dying light of the sun. Roots from the trees were growing over the ground, overlapping each other. Tai Lung treaded through to catch up with the quick wolf. He could audibly hear the sound of water splashing growing louder with every step. He caught sight once again of only a portion of the wolf before Yut moved away, who a moment ago was inspecting a few mushrooms growing under the roots of the trees.

A few more strides away and he emerged into a brighter background, squinting his eyes for a moment so it could adjust. Tai Lung noticed Yut staring at a large waterfall that collected into a large pool before the water went down into a river that went down to another side.

"Wow…" Yut repeated again as he watched the shimmering orange light of the sunset on the falling water.

"You've seen enough yet?" Tai called out louder than his usual voice. "Come on, there's a village not too far." But just as Tai Lung was about to turn around, he noticed Yut taking his cloak off and continuing to strip onwards with his leather vest.

"What are you doing?" Tai asked.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm gonna take a bath," Yut said as he took off his leather boots, skipping up and down as he took them off while standing.

"Do you need reminding that you're _already _pushing your luck?" Tai Lung replied.

"Well, I don't need reminding to _take_ a bath," Yut quipped. "Who knows how many years I actually haven't taken a bath"

The leopard sighed. He found it was difficult to persuade him without good reason. "All right, I'll wait here. But make it quick."

"Wait, don't you want to take a bath too?" said Yut as he took off his white shirt, leaving only his pants on. "Haven't you been in that prison for… 21 years? So doesn't that mean you haven't also… umm…"

He brought up his arm smell his pits, making a disgruntled expression. "L-like I have the time to be taking a bath," Tai Lung excused.

"You have the time now," Yut said. "Lets both take a bath. It'll save you time." The wolf then took off his pants, leaving only his bare grey fur. He stood in front of his companion naked shamelessly, letting him inspect his lean body.

"Just take your bath already!" the snow leopard instigated.

Yut pouted and sat on the ground. "I'm not taking a bath unless you are too"

"Will you stop acting like a child?" Tai Lung instigated. "If you won't, then get dressed and let's go"

The wolf turned his head. "I'm not getting dressed either," he said.

Tai Lung growled. "If you want me to drag you to the village naked, just tell me. It'll be faster that way, trust me"

"Oh, and what will that make you look like to everyone there?" Yut grinned. "People would probably think you're a pervert." Tai Lung was about to say another remark before Yut continued his jest. "Tai Lung, master of the thousand scrolls of kung fu, is a pervert!"

"Fine fine!" Tai Lung gave up, blushing. "I'll take a bath too." As soon as he started taking his belt off, Yut enthusiastically dove on ahead in the water. Almost instantly, he got up shivering.

"It's cold, but the water's fine!" he said while clattering his teeth. Tai Lung took off his pants and leg wraps and went into the water, both men now naked in the lake. Yut was splashing water at the leopard, mainly having fun instead of simply bathing.

Tai Lung proceeded to the pouring waterfall, showering his fur with water as scrubbed and wiped off the smell; a mix scent of dust, sweat, musk, and anything else unpleasant. It was cooling, and the flowing water was a relieving sensation. He felt relaxed, as if for the first time. He closed his eyes and held his breath, indulging himself in an almost-forgotten feeling as if meditating.

Yut glanced towards his silent companion; the water flowing down his well-built body. The wolf had normally seen him shirtless, but only now could he admire its entirety; his eyes scanning downwards until he strayed his sight from the between the leopards thighs. From a quick glance, he could easily estimate it to be larger than his own. Then, out of nowhere, Yut gathered a mischievous thought.

Tai Lung could feel rather weak yet swishing movement in his surroundings, audible even with his hearing in the falling water. He didn't even need to open his eyes to know Yut was sneaking up to him. He could even feel the ripples wading to his legs as the swishing sound continued to grow louder. And just as the movement and sounds ended, he opened his eyes and turned, expecting the wolf to be right behind him.

But to his surprise, he wasn't there, nor was he anywhere he cast his eyes on. "Yut?" Tai called out. Unknown to him, the wolf was creeping up from a high rock nearby, and as silently as possible he jumped up to him.

"Surprise!" Yut yelled as he lurched and grabbed unto Tai from behind, touching bare fur to bare fur. Caught off-guard, his immediate reflex was lifting him off his back and throwing him into the water. Yut flung back flopping unto the water.

"O-ow…" the wolf moaned.

Tai Lung recognized who he just threw, but he wasn't sorry at all. "That's what you get for trying to sneak up on me"

"I think that was a bit excessive…" Yut cringed in pain.

The snow leopard got out of the water and went to dry himself off. He couldn't believe someone like him was even able to sneak up on him. Maybe it was because he let his guard down too much. "Come on. I think we've spent enough time bathing."

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, they were both dry and dressed. Twilight finally reaching its final minute; soon enough, their source of light was the white orb glowing luminously in the sky.<p>

"Wow… the moon looks really pretty…" said Yut, reverting back to his curious state. Tai Lung was doing his best not to bother himself about it. Their view of the lantern-lit village from the hill was a most relieving sight to Tai Lung.

"There it is kid," said Tai Lung. "This is where I leave you-"

But Yut's ears were somewhere farther off, once again selectively not hearing him. "Hey Tai, do you hear that? That's what music is, right?" the wolf enthusiastically bounced with a wide smile in his mouth. "Let's take a closer look! Come on!" Without hesitation, he grabbed Tai's arm and pulled him closer towards the village.

But a few meters away, Tai Lung stopped Yut. "Wa-wait! Yut, wait!" he said. "I'm a convict, remember? I can't let them see me."

Suddenly, they heard voices from behind, and the leopard quickly took Yut and went to the bushes. Two pigs were walking down, and they were both wearing designed masks. The two watched them go into the entrance, and Yut took the chance to look over the village walls from nearby. Tai Lung, who was curious himself, followed behind.

Yut tried jumping to see over the wall but found it to be fruitless effort. Luckily, he spotted an empty box from nearby and stood over it. While Yut was scanning the village with only his eyes above the wall, Tai Lung went ahead and got up, keeping himself in the hidden shade of a tree. The snow leopard scanned the village and saw muse of partying and conviviality.

"It's a festival…?" Tai judged.

"A mask festival!" shouted Yut as all the people whether dancing, drinking, singing or simply laughing were all wearing masks of different varieties. Tai watched more attentively, but Yut's eagerness got the best of him as the wolf hastily climbed up the wall and over.

"Strangely, the expression 'curiousity killed the cat' is a bit off here," muttered Tai Lung to himself. Yut landed in an alley between two houses and quickly dashed to the center of the carousal. Tai came down as well, still hidden in the shade trying to look for where Yut went. Although he promised to leave the wolf by the time they were at the village, he couldn't bring himself to leave him at a place like this.

The snow leopard cautiously peered over the midst the festivity to look for him. But not a moment too soon Yut popped up in front of him.

"Tai, here," Yut handed him a white mask with two blue triangular streaks at the side of each cheek and was frowning. "A nice man handed it to me for free! He even gave me two!" Yut then wore a smiling mask, designed with two red horizontal bars, one at each cheek. "This way you get to stay incognito!"

"Wait, Yut, I'm not sure if-" Tai muttered.

"Come on, it's been 21 years since you were probably at a festival. Have some fun!" encouraged Yut as he pushed the snow leopard towards the bright atmosphere of the festival.

"And could you stop emphasizing how old I probably am?" Tai blurted.

"Why? How old _are_ you?" Yut asked. "You're probably in your forties, huh?"

Tai made a silent pause and Yut stopped pushing him. "Woah… did you even have _any_ kind of fun in your life?" When Tai Lung wouldn't give a reply, Yut gave one big heave. As soon as Tai Lung was pushed in, there was no turning back.

The village street was a mass of stands complete with food and games. It turns out he wasn't the only one shirtless among the people and to them it appeared to be normal. But his washboard abs was still attracting attention, especially among the females. "Oooh, you need some company mister?" flirted one of the cat women, wearing a veil instead of a mask.

"Oh, um- not really I," He was mumbling nervously for the first in a long time. Talking with women was one difficulty that no kung fu scroll could teach him to conquer it. He backed away slowly from the approaching seductress when he bumped into someone from behind.

"Hey, watch it!" grunted the person. "Blind fool!"

Tai Lung formed an angry stare, but thankfully didn't grab the person's attention due to the mask covering his face. As he menacingly watched the man go away, he turned as soon as he heard giggling. The veiled feline found the company of another man, who, was also wearing less than needed clothing.

The snow leopard found himself possessing a strangely refreshing feeling. He felt that becoming just another individual, a _nobody_, shifted him into a person he didn't realize was himself.

"Hey, Tai!" Yut called from behind, who was also wearing his mask.

The leopard turned. "Don't call me that! They might recognize me." Tai Lung said worriedly.

"Never mind that, they won't. You're practically a ghost around here," Yut replied. "What's that over there?"

Tai Lung faced to where he pointed, finding a colorful sight played by a number of people dancing underneath it. "That's a dragon," he answered.

"So that's what a dragon is…" Yut glazed over the sight of it.

"That the first thing you don't recognize, huh?" Tai Lung said. "You really are like a child."

"No I'm not!" the wolf rejected, and if Tai could see through objects he would see Yut pouting through his mask, although he wouldn't really need an ability like that to know that he was.

The two started walking around leisurely, exploring the sights and smells of the festival. The colorful lanterns decorated around the street vividly shining to their eyes, the loud jeers and laughter coming from houses and other passing people, and the aroma of food and drink filling their nostrils. One curious parlor caught Yut's attention.

"Hey, lad! You look like you could use a drink!" shouted a cougar in a wooden stand covered with red cloths. Yut went to the stand and approached him from the other side of the counter. "Here's one on me!" The yellow, dark-spotted cougar handed him a beverage in a cylindrical wooden jug.

"Err… okay…" Yut was about to grab it when Tai Lung pushed the jug away.

"Sorry, we're not interested," said the snow leopard in a cold tone before dragging Yut away.

"Wha- hey! What gives?" Yut instigated while unclenching the rough leopards grip on his right arm.

Tai Lung slowly let go. "Don't just get things from random strangers," he said.

"But it was free!" Yut argued. "And he looked like a pretty nice guy!"

"Do you even _know_ what he was giving you?" Tai asked.

The wolf made a nervous side glance. "Well… uh – it was…" Tai waited for an answer, but after a few seconds of dead silence he ought to give him an answer.

"It was beer, and unless you wanted to be a drunken fool for the rest of the night, then be my guest," Tai Lung explained. "You really are a child"

"Ahh! I'm not!" Yut embarrassingly tried to deny. The leopard, clearly stating his opinion, went and explored the village a bit more.

The night was no longer young, but it didn't seem like it would end anytime soon either. A wolf and a leopard pair was walking through the cheerful crowds and vibrant atmosphere.

Tai Lung was wondering why he had stayed so long with him for no important reason. He could even knock him out with a single blow and be done with it. Knock him out then leave him, simple as that. And yet, here he was, contradicting himself. And the wolf beside him was bitterly glancing away from his companion. The thought of fulfilling promises wasn't really occurring to him at any way.

With enough time to scan his surroundings, Tai Lung began to wonder what kind of place it was. There was drinking and feasting, the occasional accompaniment of random felines, and the chorale of laughs and cheers. And to top it off, he was babysitting an immature amnesiac. The thought of immature children crossed his mind. "_What kind of place would this be to raise a child?"_ he pondered.

But again, the thought of children crossed his mind. In an instant, he scoured his surroundings. With every glance he shot, he couldn't find what he was aiming for. There was not a single child around.

The wolf was bored. Tai Lung wouldn't let him near anything or anyone. He had a terrible itch of finding out things for himself, and the person right next to him was restricting his freedom. Then, his ears flickered when someone was calling out to him.

"Psst!" a voice sounded off. Yut turned to the right to see a fox in a hooded black robe wink at him, the red fox's face clearly visible from the orange light of the lanterns. He wanted to check what it was about, but he didn't want to rouse Tai Lung's suspicion. Yut spotted a group of drunk men. With a mischievous grin, he cracked out a scheme. The wolf picked up a rock and threw it at one of the them. When the victim turned angrily, Yut discreetly pointed towards his companion.

"_This place… don't tell me…_" Just as Tai Lung was about to realize what kind of place they were in, someone tapped on his shoulder.

"Hey, you throwin' rocksh at people?" slurred the cream-furred canine who took off his mask.

Tai turned to see a group of maskless hooligans staring menacingly at him. "Hmm? You must have me mistaken for another," Tai Lung said. Unfortunately, he had his mask on. If people only knew who he was, they would have thought twice than try to cause trouble with him.

"Nahhh… I'm pretty shure it was you," the canine slurred. "You hear 'im fellas? He's even tryin' to get away with it"

The masked leopard sighed. "_Like I have time to mess with these fools." _While Tai Lung was preoccupied, Yut took the time to slip through towards the hooded fox.

"Hey there hon," the fox mingled. "I don't see wolves here often, you new here?"

"Yeah, I – umm… you could say that," Yut said. "How'd you know I was a wolf?"

"Hon, please. Identity isn't all in the face." The fox then made sly grin. "Say, you ever had a surreal experience before?" he asked.

"A surreal… experience?" Yut inquired, scratching the back of his neck.

"Oh yes, quite." The fox brought out his hand holding a small brown bag. He took out a small round piece that looked like candy. "Since it's your first time here, I'm willing to... give this for free, as a sample."

"What's that?" the wolf asked.

"Ohh, you needn't worry. It's simply a delicious treat. You'll definitely be satisfied from it," the fox convince. The wolf stared at it for a moment before gently taking it. The tiny round object was colored black, and he could literally hold its entirety with his fingers.

"Have a nice evening." The fox took a lantern and went through the alley, disappearing only a few moments after from sight.

"You're gonna pay for what you did." The dog brought up a fist and threw it straight towards Tai Lung. He effortlessly grab raised his palm and caught his fist, making a loud crunching sound. The intoxicated canine cringed in pain. He tried taking his fist back only to feel the leopard gripping it tightly. Failing in his attempt, he was about to swing his other fist when Tai Lung quickly brought him up in mid-air, twisted him and made him land back down with a heavy thud.

People around were now watching them. "Hey!" one of the drunk dog charged in when Tai quickly thrusted his arms and flipped him back over. A bear and a lion holding a four by four were next. Tai punched the bear in his stomach. Tai blocked the swinging piece of wood from the lion and reflected it back into his face. He then grabbed it from his hands and swung it up the bear's jaw before thrusting it back to the lion's stomach

"Oh you're in for it now!" the last of them grimaced. He brought out a knife and the random spectators gasped. As the boar charged in, Tai Lung swiftly clutched his wrist, snapped his elbow and kicked him back. The boar landed on a stack of empty boxes. Their entire group was now groaning in pain on the ground.

Tai Lung then turned to see where his wolf companion was. No doubt he'd be slack-jawed in awe once again. But to his surprise, he could not find him. Scanning around, he spotted with his sharp eyes the wolf, holding a small round black item. "Th-that's!" Tai Lung quickly went towards him only to be a moment too late. Yut had swallowed it by the time he grabbed him by the shoulder.

"What did you just take?" Tai Lung interrogated.

"N-nothing! See? I'm fine–" Yut suddenly felt his entire body shudder. His fingers began trembling and his body started burning up. His legs became shaky, and he groped for something to clutch on.

"He-hey!" said Tai Lung when Yut weakly toppled unto him. The wolf desperately grabbed on something to support, holding Tai Lung's belt as a result. To other people, it might have seemed like a sexual attempt.

"T-Tai… I feel so hot!" the wolf whined, reaching his left arm down his own groin.

The snow leopard flinched when he realized how they must look like to their random witnesses. "C-come on! Let's get out of here." Tai Lung carried Yut over his shoulder and dashed away. Regardless of the few spectators left, he leaped over the village walls and into the forest.

With the lights from the village flickering away at a distance, the only dependable source of light left was the bathing glow of the moon. Below its basking light, Tai Lung watched over Yut, who was still suffering from the effects of what he ingested. Under the circumstances, the snow leopard tied the wolf's hands up on a tree.

"Ta-Tai… wha-what's…" Yut moaned. Tai Lung bound his arms with a rope to make sure he wouldn't start groping everywhere.

"What you ingested was probably an aphrodisiac," Tai Lung explained.

"An… apher…" Yut's short breaths and fast beating heart made it hard for him to talk.

"Aphrodisiac," Tai Lung clarified. "I'm not surprised you don't know about it. It's a drug people use to _heighten_ sexual urges." Tai glanced down to the wolf's groin, seeing his erection peering through his clothing.

"He-ah hel-…" Yut tried clearing his throat for at least a single moment. "…help"

"It's not poisonous, or at least what you ingested doesn't seem to be," Tai Lung told him. "The effect will subside in at most a few hours, and you'll be fine by then."

"B-but… ah-I…" the wolf's heavy panting was a clear sign of his sexual urge. "Pl-please…" Tai raised an eyebrow, wondering what the wolf was implying. But when Yut shuffled the lower part of his body, he realized it in an instant.

"Even if you do what I think you're going to do, it won't go away like that. You'd only feel more comfortable… in a sense."

The wolf didn't speak, and Yut's glistening eyes simply stared up pleading at him.

Tai Lung let out a deep sigh. "Fine, I'll let you do it yourself." The leopard loosened him and the wolf's arms started reaching towards his own pants. Tai quickly turned as the wolf's full form started shuffling out of the pants. But Yut could hardly control his hands, and besides barely gripping it, he couldn't motion it properly. The wolf had no common knowledge of this, but for some reason it was common instinct.

"I- I… ah… can't…" the wolf whimpered. "I can't… do it…"

"Huh? You can't?" Tai turned while averting his gaze from the wolf's center piece. Tai Lung couldn't think of an alternate solution, so he turned away once again and sat down. "Then I guess you'll just have to wait for it to go"

"Uh… no wa- ah!" Yut let out a loud whimper.

"H-hey! Keep it down!" Tai said quickly. He turned only to find the wolf leaning his head on him at the ground on all fours.

"Tai…" the wolf's eyes were begging to him, and in a strange mix of pity and compassion, Tai Lung felt he would regret what he was about to do next.

"If it's going to make you shut up." Tai Lung faced towards Yut and made him lean back on the tree. The leopard stared at his erection, hesitating for a moment before reaching to it. The wolf half-mindedly remained sitting, continuing to pant heavily before his heart leaped in contact of Tai's hand.

"A-ah…!" Yut moaned as soon as Tai's warm grip was wrapped around his cock. Tai slowly motioned it, going up and down. The wolf continuously made stimulating short breaths. Yut's leg brushed against Tai's crotch, and for a moment he thought he felt something warm.

But in only a few short strokes, Yut had reached his climax. "Ahh!" In an exalted breath, he felt a rush of ecstasy overflow inside him. His entire body shuddered as he couldn't control the amount of pleasure intensified by the aphrodisiac. The white fluid resting on his furry body. The smell of it was overpowering, and quickly replaced the scent of musk and sweat in his lungs. The closeness of the leopard in front of him made his body feel even hotter.

"You owe me for this, you bastard," Tai said as the deed was finally done, thinking that Yut would finally be quiet.

"N-no fair…" Yut could feel a bit more of his self-control returning after his discharge. Although he had reached climax, he was still hard. "I wanna see yours too…" Almost in an instant, Yut took off Tai's belt.

"He-hey!" Tai tried to stop him, but to no avail. Yut lowered his pants to see the half-flaccid, half-erect centerpiece. Primarily out of instinct, the wolf made his muzzle closer towards his cock. Diligently, he licked it with the short tip of his tongue, slowly becoming more enthusiastic. Yut didn't wonder why, he simply went and did it.

"Stop it…" Tai Lung wanted to push him away, but the soft warm feel of his tongue made him feel otherwise. Yut didn't even reply as his mouth was too busy doing something else. He tried to resist becoming aroused, but when Yut finally ran the entire length of his tongue his body couldn't help but get excited.

Yut could finally see fruit of his efforts. Slowly, but surely, Tai Lung's gray dick became fully erect. And when he thought it wouldn't get any larger, it did. It went to around a massive ten inches, and the warm glow emanating from it didn't stop Yut from licking it more. In fact, it even got him more excited as he quickly attempted to put it in his muzzle. With Tai's manhood throbbing in his mouth, he could feel his own throbbing along under him in excitement.

His muzzle slid up and down, and Tai patted his hand on his head. Without a doubt, he was really enjoying it. His tongue thrashing inside his mouth as he tasted every inch he could. "_So hot…" _thought Yut as he continued. He could now taste his own saliva mixing with the musky scent found in his partner's loins. Who knew giving was just as good as receiving.

Tai Lung, although strongly feeling the strangeness of the occurrence, was honestly enjoying it. But he was afraid to admit it, even to himself. For here he was being given a blowjob, by another guy. He never imagined it happening this way. But, then again, he never imagined this ever happening at all. Without a doubt, if he wouldn't let the wolf do this, he would probably be moaning restlessly from the effect of the drug. The wolf was most likely was half-conscious of what happening right now.

The leopard hardly had any experience with this, and he believed the amnesiac didn't either. The feel of the wolf's moist long tongue and warm breath on his cock was finally too much. He felt himself about to come to the edge. But before he could let it happen, he retracted his dick out of Yut's mouth. "Eh…?" muttered Yut. He looked dazed. His eyes were glistening forward to Tai, perhaps only half-wondering of what was happening.

"If we've gone this far already," Tai went and raised Yut's legs. He dribbled his saliva unto his two fingers and shoved it towards wolf's rears, rubbing around the rim in a circular motion. The wolf yipped out of surprise. "Then there's no reason not to go even further, right?" Yut's enhanced sensitivity made it almost impossible to keep himself from bucking wildly in place. Soon enough, Tai stopped right in the middle and inserted his fingers, slowly but surely.

Yut felt a sharp painful pierce. He let out his loudest moan he had done. If there were people nearby, Tai was pretty sure they'd have heard him. As his two fingers reached deeper inside of him, the pain intensified until he could actually feel the entire length of his fingers inside him. The wolf winced and drew quick short breaths. Tai slowly drew back his fingers and Yut became less tense. But a moment before fully retracting it, he quickly pushed it back in. A jolt surged through Yut from one end of his body to another. Again, Tai drew it back and quickly pushed it in, and the feeling of pain slowly progressed into a distinct feeling of ecstasy.

"Your reactions are amusing. People will definitely hear us if you keep going like that." Tai grinned before finally fully retracting his finger out of his ass. "Let's see how well you'll do with this." Tai Lung positioned himself with Yut's back leaning on the tree. Yut could see the entire length of the snow leopard's burning hot shaft before he finally prodded against his hole. The warm feel caressing against his sensitives gave a tingling eager effect.

"T-Tai…" the wolf glazed his eyes towards the leopard, and for a moment they stared into each others eyes. If there was ever a distinct line between friendly and intimate acts, they would have crossed it by now. But Yut wasn't reluctant about it. Perhaps it was the aphrodisiac speaking, but he couldn't help but feel a part of his voice saying "yes".

After a long odd stare, as if the situation wasn't odd enough, Tai began to thrust himself inside him. The thickness of him was overwhelming, and the length wasn't even put to consideration yet. But soon enough it was, as he could feel him going deeper until his hips were in contact. Yut started panting heavily. He gripped unto whatever he could nearby, be it grass or the bark of the tree. It started out as a painful experience, but as Tai continued to hump him, it was slowly replaced by the feeling of elation. With each thrust, the feeling escalated. Yut could feel every length and curve inside of him.

The wolf's penis was letting out a large amount of pre-cum, dripping from the tip. He took short deep breaths almost with every stroke. Yut prevented himself from being loud. Th leopard didn't slow down from his pace, in fact, maybe even went faster. Every time he pulled out, his hole was sucking it back in. His insides were whacking with waves of pleasure.

Tai no longer knew what he was doing. He was literally doing _it_, with another guy. But somehow, it didn't bother him. Regardless of who he was doing it with, it felt like he had been waiting for this for a long time. A really long time.

Then, he propped Yut up and laid back down, not letting his cock out even for an instant. Tai positioned himself on the ground and let the wolf sit on him. The wolf let out a loud yelp as the largeness of his manhood felt like it went even deeper.

"Urk- I'm coming close…!" Tai Lung said as he quickly hastened his pace, feeling himself leap off the edge. For the last few moments of their lustful engagement, Yut finally let go of restraining his moans. Every part of his body was screaming with ecstasy.

"M-me too! Ahh!" The wolf finally let go of himself, and his loose free breaths enhanced the experience in any way it could. His body was so sensitive, and the feeling of Tai Lung's manhood inside of him ebbed in delight all the way to his own penis.

And, almost simultaneously, the two burst out in a zenith of delight. Tai Lung filled Yut's hole to the brim. Admittedly, and a bit embarrassingly, it was his first; even perhaps Yut's, if his memory wasn't vague. The two moaned loudly as they reached their climax.

Large amounts of white fluid dripped from Yut's hole. The wolf came all over his chest, spreading towards Tai's in the final shots of semen.

And before Yut could think, or assimilate what just happened, his eyes grew weary. He was so tired, that he did not realize that he fell asleep the moment after.


	4. Invitations to Trouble

_A/N Nope, they won't be all lovey-dovey just yet. The whole story will go on much longer in fact, and will span for two story arcs. This is still the first._

* * *

><p>At the few remaining hours of that night, a wolf dreamt of recent past events. All that was on his mind was his leopard companion.<p>

_"You've got a lot of nerve to walk up and go as far to touch me"_

_"I've… got a keen sense of smell"_

_"You're a strange one, you know?"_

_"What? No! I mean – why would I ever want to be a peasant?"_

_"Let's get something straight here, 'kay? There is no 'we' here. In fact, if it wasn't for me, there wouldn't even be a 'you'!"_

_"But I'm only taking you as far to the village nearby, so promise me you'll leave me alone after that."_

_"You really are like a child."_

"_If we've gone this far already…"_

Everything rewinded since the very first time he woke up. His eyes watched a series of images flow continually in his mind. It had only been a few days since, and yet he already had memory of so much. As the first ray of sunlight beaming through his eyes, a phrase shot through his mind.

It was morning. At the realization that they were near a village like their promise was made, Tai would most likely have left him by now. At that moment, he felt as though all his memories were about to be trashed; that one day he would forget all the memories he's had, as if having amnesia all over again.

But then, as he ruffled his arm, his fur collided unto something of the similar texture. The warm feeling was strangely familiar. Yut gently lifted his head. Glancing up, he sees the cute face of a snow leopard fast asleep. Regaining full consciousness of his body, he recognizes a strong feeling over his chest. Tai Lung's arms were wrapped around him, and Yut soon realized he had slept this way with him lying on his burly chest. The leopard's husky form surrounding him made his entire body flush hotly, like taking another aphrodisiac. Quickly recalling what happened last night, he bashfully tried to remove himself.

In his abrupt movements, he accidently woke Tai Lung up. The leopard's arms shuffled around him. "Uh- g-good morning…!" Yut greeted nervously, incapable of thinking what the right thing to do or say in the current situation.

Tai Lung yawned and scratched his head before returning the proper greeting. "Hm? Oh, good morning," he said almost apathetically.

With his arms no longer hoisted around him, Yut quickly got up. Noticing the loose clothing below his waist, he hurriedly pulled it up. He was obviously freaking out, but it appeared that the Kung Fu warrior was as calm as the sea. Tai Lung was wearing back his pants and belt, and looked as if nothing ever happened.

"Uh… hey. A-about last night…" Yut brought up. The nervous wreck he was in was apparent enough for Tai Lung to read.

"Hey," Tai Lung said. "You don't need to freak out, alright. Just calm down."

Yut tried to calm himself down, taking deep breaths but only to no avail. He was still a bit shaky. Seriously, how would one react when a few hours ago he had sex with someone? Especially on with the same gender?

"Right. So… uh… last night you… err... I… umm," Yut mumbled recklessly. He couldn't get the events out of his head. He wondered how Tai Lung could be so calm about it.

To be honest, the snow leopard didn't felt anything too strange to fuss about. Perhaps he had grown far too lax with not feeling anything or maybe because it really wasn't such a big deal to him at all. His nonchalant expressions simply made it harder for him to ease up. But knowing his traveling companion, it would most likely bother him for a long time if he wouldn't try to fix it.

"Look, you don't have to overreact. We can just act as if nothing happened, right?" Tai Lung suggested. After a slow anxious exhalation, the wolf silently nodded. Tai got up and looked towards the sky. He felt his fur slightly damp from last night's sweaty events. He could even smell the faint scent of semen as well. He looked at Yut to see him blankly staring at space, thinking deeply while blushing in embarrassment.

"Hey, let's take a bath," Tai Lung again suggested. "Maybe that would help calm you down. I don't want to smell like this either way."

Again, Yut simply nodded. To be honest, the scent was even stronger around himself. The two made their way back to where they first took their bath. It was a few ways off, but they managed to find their way back. On their way there, Yut remained completely silent. Tai Lung found it strangely new to him, but he could definitely get used to it.

The spring was the same as they left it. Tai Lung undressed and went directly into the water. Yut stared at him for a few seconds. The shape, the curve of his body, the size of his manhood, he could relive their sexual encounter just from looking at him. Yut quickly displaced his thoughts of him and went to undress himself.

The cool feel of the water on his fur was relieving. It certainly did calm him down, just a bit. Swishing around, he felt like playing around even. But every time he saw the naked leopard, he can't help but remember what happened last night. His face would flush and he'd look away every time Tai Lung would look back. Almost always he'd get caught staring at him.

Yut felt like he had to break their awkward atmosphere eventually. Tai didn't seem to feel anything unusual. Perhaps some way he could just blur everything out like it never happened. Or maybe their difference in age was what mattered. But how old was he? Tai seemed around his forties. But right now his anxiousness was getting the best of him. The wolf looked down at his blurry reflection in the rippling water.

That means trying to forget, and as far as he was concerned, he was trying to remember. Life is measured in memories. If you can't even imagine yourself having to relive anything, then you'd feel yourself a toddler. But part of life, evidently, was forgetting; as hard as it is. The wolf was, inherently, afraid of forgetting. He had already forgotten everything, and forgetting even further filled him with despair. It filled his soul with sadness.

Yut faced his snow leopard companion for a last conspicuous time. He remembered the things he told him. The things he needed to convince him to get out of Chorh-Gom Prison. Indirectly, it involved asking him to forget his past. He seemed convinced that Tai Lung already had. But at any time he could remember, and he could go back to his past any time he wanted.

But what Yut asked of Tai Lung was to not remember. By distancing the past away by asking for his help, Yut had him do what he didn't want to; to forget. And the wolf found it selfish in nature. He had asked a lot. And when Yut would think about it, it was more than he first thought.

So, in a little spark of resolve, he faced away from selfishness. He would face forgetting, in an act of selflessness. He wondered how it would be selfless, doing something for himself either way. But by doing the same thing he had asked of Tai Lung for nothing in return, he found peace in it. So then he turned away from the leopard, without him noticing.

He noticed the fur on his upper body was drying up. He quickly bathed himself in the water. Yut sniffed his fur to make sure not even a faint scent of sweat or anything else unmentionable would be left. He got his head wet and shook it off along with any embarrassment he had left.

"Hey, you-" Just as Tai Lung was about to finish asking, Yut cut him off.

"-done!" Yut beamed back to him. He regained the usual optimistic smile he always wore.

"…okay. Let's go." Tai Lung said after drying himself up. The two got back into clothing and trudged through the forest and onwards.

The sun dried up their fur quite nicely. Yut brought back his rambunctious energy from bathing in the morning rays. Tai Lung shot quick glances back towards the odd wolf. One moment he was in slump, and the next he was back to normal. As they walked onwards, Yut couldn't help but ask a question. "Hey, wait. Tai, where are we going?" he queried.

"We're going to a village. A real one, this time." Tai answered from in front.

"A real one? What about, you know, last night?" Yut continued to ask, walking up to get closer to him.

"Thought you might ask," he said. "See that?" He pointed towards familiar structures of stone below a hill.

"That's the village from last night," Yut recognized.

Tai kept walking. "Not exactly." As they got closer, Yut started to remember the way it looked like with lanterns and colors. Now, it was just a desolate place with ruined buildings and left behind scraps of cloth.

"Wah- what happened here?" Yut asked as he scanned through his surroundings. Not a single soul was there. All the colors and lanterns disappeared. "And these buildings…"

"Didn't realize it myself either. Thought maybe in all the years they kept me in prison they'd fix it, but…" Tai Lung answered. He went up to one of the buildings and rubbed his paw on the rough yellow wall. "They were like this without us knowing."

"I thought it was a real village!" the wolf clamored. He remained in disbelief of what he was hearing.

"It wasn't," he replied. "If it were, then this place should be less than rubble left."

Yut arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Tai Lung took a moment to look at the deserted mass of buildings and concrete. "When I was still training, I heard stories about a place like this. At nights, people would throw parties, drink, party, dance, everything to have a good time" he answered. "Without any repercussions. Which means, _anything_ was allowed."

"Like, selling aphrodisiacs," Yut added.

"Exactly," Tai said. "And they'd usually do it on random nights. That way no one could catch them. No one really knows how they plan it."

"Not even a great kung fu warrior, huh?" the wolf said.

"Entire world is a mystery. I've been surprised a lot of times, even after my first prison breakout." The snow leopard said with a shrug. "Well, come on. Pick up the pace. The faster we get there, the faster we part ways."

"But if I do that, won't we get tired easily?" Yut complained. The two continued to walk onwards, conversing as they left the ruined village.

"Just _you_ would. How about I just carry you on my back? Makes things easier for both of us, no matter how unpleasant it is for me." Tai Lung replied.

"Nuh-uh. No carrying. Last time we did that, you blew up an entire mountain." The wolf declined.

"You're the one that forced to get on my back then," Tai Lung said.

"Heh, yeah. A mistake I'm never gonna repeat," he sniggered.

"That mistake is the reason why I'm stuck with you. Glad you've reassured me you're not gonna make me do anything else like that." Tai said. Yut simply rolled his eyes.

The two continued to travel on foot. After a while of random conversations, Tai noticed that Yut's complacent smile and curious demeanor returned to him. In an awkward sense, he grew curious too. As they continued to walk onwards to their unknown destination, a question popped into his mind. "Hey, kid," Tai caught his attention. "About last night, does it still bother you?"

"Huh? Well, no. I'm perfectly fine with it," Yut answered.

"Really?" Tai blurted in skepticism. In all honesty, he had only been keeping a straight face all this time. Doing it with a man bothered him a bit, and the only reason he seemed complacent about it was habit of not showing much emotion.

"Yeah. I mean, we could just forget all about it, right?" the wolf said. "Never bring it up again."

"I suppose…" Tai Lung muttered. He was in a bit of shock. He didn't expect him to relax after all that so suddenly. As happy as he was that they could not talk about it ever again, the leopard frowned at the thought that Yut would resume his loquacious postulate manner.

Then, his small ears perked as he heard a noise coming from a distance. He deducted the sound to be a set of wheels rolling on the ground. It was obviously a wagon. Although inaudible to his wolf companion, he could sense the sound growing louder. Yut noticed his traveling partner suddenly stop. "Tai, what's-"

"Ssh!" Tai Lung placed a hand over his mouth. Inferring that the wagon would approach in a matter of seconds, he brought Yut hiddens towards the bushes in an awesome display of strength.

"Tai, what are you-" Yut muffled.

Tai Lung kept his sights on the wagon about to go up the hill. A large brown buffalo was seen first slowly dragging the wheeled wagon. A goose was chiming happily as he drove the wagon. Yut noticed it as well, but as he turned towards the leopard, he suddenly disappeared from sight. He arched his neck to see that he had jumped up into the trees, perching above the wagon.

Yut watched the kung fu warrior leap and land down in front of the wagon. The goose let out a frightened quack. Tai Lung gave him a menacing look. "Boo."

"Aaahh! I-I-It-it's-it's-!" the goose shouted as he quickly got off the wagon and ran off in another direction. "Aaaaahhhhh!"

Tai watched him run away while Yut came out of the bushes. "Glad to know some people still know of me," he said to himself.

"What was that for?" Yut questioned.

"Hitching a ride," he said as he got up and latched on the harness. "Hop on, or I'm leaving you."

"But, you- what about the-" As he blurted on, Tai had already turned the buffalo-pulled wagon around. The leopard gave him one last look. "Alright fine. But no scaring people off again, okay?"

Tai gave off a scoff. Yut didn't know what exactly it meant, but he hoped it meant yes. He lifted one leg up first, pushed himself up and got down on the seat. Tai Lung then cracked the set of ropes, making the buffalo move forward.

The wagon rocked and bumped at the tiny stones that littered the dirt road. Yut locked his eyes in the ever-changing scenery. First watching the clouds race against each other towards the horizon of the blue, then speculating over numerous types of flora whilst having falling leaves that gently drizzled from high branches atop them, and then witnessing breath-taking sight of a mountain edge slowly coming into to zoom.

You would have guessed how the entire trip felt like. Tai Lung had once again tried to stay his patience from the repetitive sounds of "oohs" and "aahs" from the inquisitive wolf. He could almost hear it echoing his mind. It annoyed him to some extent, enough that he dwelled in the thought of swinging the wolf down the mountain's edge.

But he himself was dwelling in the surrounding scenery. Nothing much had changed in that additional of span time he was held in the prison. But indeed, there was a slight difference. New sprouts had to begun to grow; new leaves began to blow in the wind; and new fruits to fall from trees.

Indeed, he had to admit it. He was getting old.

He needlessly focused himself back to the present. Once again the sun began to die down into the horizon. As dusk approached the trees and grass turned grey from the fading light. Like the tip of a candle flame it glared into their eyes. Yut became distracted at the glowing orb. He stared into its austere light, basking under its warmth as the breeze brushed coldly through his fur.

Yut let out a yawn. As he brushed his eyes, he felt the wagon come to a stop. "Hey- what's going on?" he asked.

"We walk from here," Tai Lung said as he nodded to the front. In front of them was a series of wooden bridges that were built over two islands of dirt that stood out from a foggy abyss down below. Yut shuddered in fear as looked down below. "This place is called the Bridge of Mists," said the snow leopard. "We go across and make camp on the other side."

"D-d-do we have to? I-I mean, it's not like we're in a _rush_," Yut muttered.

"Fine. You stay here then," Tai Lung said as walked onwards.

"Wha- h-hey! Wait!" Yut followed anxiously behind him. The wooden floor boards creaked with each foot step. While Tai Lung could pace himself without feeling any fear, Yut was in a state of the opposite. The wolf yelped as one wrong step resulted in a part of the wooden floorboard to break. It was small enough for Yut to have lifted his feet back up without having it sink down.

"Don't look down, don't look down…" Yut chanted. Tai smirked as he overheard him.

"But aren't you curious to know what it looks like below?" Tai remarked. Having his inquisition raised regardless, Yut took a peek and in an instant a small case of vertigo hit him. He shivered at fumbled to grab hold of the rope.

"Th-th-that was n-n-not fun-fu-funny!" He babbled after seeing what seemed like an endless ravine filled with fog. Tai Lung simply chuckled. You'd think Yut would be in relief the moment they landed on the island centering the giant chasm. But the moment Yut stepped foot on it he felt even more scared as an empty breeze blew past his fur. Without anything else like rope to latch on to, he quickly dashed forward to grab hold of Tai's gray back fur.

Tai Lung turned his head at annoyance to see the wolf's cowering form. He sighed and faced back forward. "_How helpless…" _he thought.

The sun had just died down right after they crossed the second bridge. The But even after then, Yut was still keeping a tight grip on his fur, aching Tai's back while he did.

"Can you let go now?" Tai asked. Yut took a few moments longer to realize he was still gripping on his fur.

"Oh-! Uh, sorry, heh," Yut forced a laugh. He didn't realize how close he was to him while did it. He feared it might have implied a different meaning.

The snow leopard didn't reply and simply walked onwards. The wind blew across his fur once again, only this time not as strikingly frightening. "_Nothing really mattered to him then huh…_" Yut thought. He shrugged it off in a breath of relief. Yut was glad at the realization that he might be able to just put it all aside after all.

"Hey, boss," said a low-toned voice amidst the shadows. "Over there." He pointed at a pair of wandering fellows, a leopard and a wolf. "Looks like our lucky day," he grinned.

"It really does," a distinct female voice replied back. "Alert the troops. We might get lucky with these ones."

"So I was thinking, what does the ocean look like?" Yut babbled. The snow leopard intently trying _not_ to listen to him. "I know its blue, but how blue is it?"

Tai Lung let out an annoyed grunt. He tried to search for something else for his ears to pay attention too. The noise of the breeze rustling through the tree leaves maybe, or the noise of insect-folk living within the vicinity. But apparently, he couldn't hear anything else other than the annoying wolf's voice.

And then it came to him. He couldn't hear _anything _else around them. It was quiet.

Too quiet.

"…so does it look like the sky except it ripples and tides and stuff-" Tai Lung pushed an arm back towards Yut, making the wolf stop talking. Immediately so, the two stood there at the forest path.

"Uhh… Tai?" the wolf inquired, wondering what was going on. Tai gave a quick "sshh". The world around them seemed to quiet down in complete silence. The kung fu warrior knew all too well that something was wrong.

And just as he expected – but to the wolf's surprise – a group of people came out of the woods. They were a ragtag bunch of boars, lions, and deer. They held blunt weapons made of wood and metal. The two were immediately surrounded. Yut immediately had his back leaning on Tai Lung's.

"You're a bit unlucky, friend," a distinct female voice echoed out from the crowd of bandits. A lioness wearing short revealing clothing, but majority of her fur was still covered with a loose set of cloth that draped from her shoulder. "It appears you're our evening victim. I was hoping for fatter loot, but you'll have to do."

"This isn't a sensible choice I tell you," Tai Lung said, standing still compared to his quivering partner.

"Aha, but it's not a choice for you to make, now isn't it?" she replied with a mocking tone. "But where are my manners. I'm Katherine, but you can just call me _Kitty._ I may not be the most _infamous_ bandit leader, but I'm definitely the best."

"Good to meet you," Tai said in a sarcastic tone. "Now, tell you're groupies to get out of the way."

"Groupies!" A certain boar blurted out in anger, almost rushing in to attack before Kitty stopped him.

Kitty walked in front of the boar and closer towards the two. "Now now, I'm being more generous than usual today, and it's best not to test me," she said. "I have a proposition, you see. You drop all your money right now, and maybe – just _maybe_ – I might leave unharmed. If not, then my men will beat you down, and you lose your money either way. So, what do you say?"

"I prefer the part where we don't get beat up," Yut mentioned from behind.

"Well then you're not so fortunate, Kitty. We don't have any coins," Tai Lung answered.

"Hmm…" Kitty looked at them with a contemplating look before slowly walking further away. "We can't be too sure, now can we?" she said before letting out a sigh. "I guess there's only one way to find out."

She gently tapped her fingers onto a boar's shoulder. "Get them."

"You people _really_ have no idea who I am anymore, don't you?" Tai asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm telling you for the last time, it's a bad idea."

"Hah! Look at this guy talk!" The boar mocked, making the others jeer in unison. He raised his wooden bat up and swung it down.

Tai Lung let out a sigh.

As the bat moved down, Tai Lung sliced his fist through the air. His fist hit the wooden bat spot on, but instead of making the bat bounce back to the boar his fist broke through the wood and dove towards his face. The boar flew back and landed unconscious.

Everyone stood silent in awe and shock. Kitty gave a disdained look at Tai Lung. The snow leopard gave back a smirk. Kitty shot an angered glance to the men around her, signaling them to attack. The bandits let out a battle cry as they charged forward.

"Stay down," Tai said to Yut. It took Yut a few seconds to assimilate what he said. When a deer charged towards his side, Tai Lung grabbed him and threw him. Yut quickly ducked down as the deer flew to his direction. He looked back to see him land towards another boar.

Tai leapt into action. Kitty quickly ran through the crowd of bandits. Two lions came in charging towards him. The leopard jumped up and slammed the two lions' heads towards each other, slamming them into unconsciousness. The other bandits who were nearer to Yut ignored the wolf as they came charging towards Tai Lung instead, provoked by his actions.

The kung fu warrior punched and kicked every passing individual. A deer lost an antler after being kicked towards a tree. A boar lost both his protruding teeth after being roundhouse-kicked to his face. Tai Lung almost enjoyed beating up all the poor men. A large lion came in with a giant iron hammer. He swung it down heavily, pushing some of his own comrades backwards. Tai evaded it before running up the handle of the hammer with his nimble skills. He kicked his feet down into the lion's face and he slammed into the ground with a loud thud.

Yut ran towards a tree to hide from the brutality. Tai picked up the giant hammer, struggling a bit before he threw it towards a group of other bandits. They easily gave in from its weight. From the fallen bandits was Kitty, standing behind the rest.

"Retreat!" she sounded as she made her move to run away. All the other able men ran off, picking up a comrade if they could. Before they knew it, most of them had already scattered off. Some were still left unconscious on the ground.

Tai turned back to see Yut hiding behind a tree. "Come on," he said. "Let's get out of here." The wolf quickly followed, trying not to step on anyone lying on the ground.

The pair hastily made way out of their encounter, hoping not to encounter any other danger. On their way, Yut was again preoccupied with an incessant amount of chatter.

And when night came, Yut was still talking about what happened. He bragged a lot about Tai's skill. The snow leopard smirked as he listened to him. Yut continued to say how awesome he was; that, he could get used to.

"And they were all just no match to you!" Yut bragged, making Tai Lung feel strangely humble.

"Heh, they were just weak. A lot weaker than those rhino guards," Tai replied, the orange glow of the campfire reflecting in his eyes.

"Yeah, but dude! I keep forgetting how awesome you are in a fight," Yut continued to praise. Tai Lung smiled with a small "hmph"

"Settle down," he soothed. All the time he was trying to make someone proud, Tai Lung never learned how to react when someone praised him like that. It seemed awkward; he wanted to brag, yet he also wanted to be modest. It was a confusing sensation.

Tai looked up towards the beaming moon, basking its eerie glow down to them. If it were all just for light, they probably wouldn't have needed to make a fire. The light of the full moon was enough to illuminate their surroundings. "It's getting late. We'll be leaving early in the morning, so you'd better get some sleep."

"But I'm still not-" before Yut could finish his sentence, he immediately let out a long yawn. Tai raised an eyebrow and wore a smug looks on his face.

"You were saying?" Tai remarked. The wolf in front of him pouted and sat down near a tree.

"All right, fine," he said, positioning himself comfortably. Before he closed his eyes and dozed off, he told his traveling companion good night.

As the minutes past, the fire that gently burned away the cold had died down. Tai Lung was left to stare up at the sky. He gazed at the amount of the stars. Strangely, he thought, how you'd know that although they stayed still in their place, they were changing in their own way.

He wondered if he could have been like that. Staying still for all that time, why didn't he? Maybe it was because, he didn't want to change? Or perhaps he has been changing, into the person he is now.

Tai Lung let out a cold sigh. "What am I going to do now…?" he wondered. He was left off in a blank slate. Maybe only a few people would recognize him. His life was utterly unfulfilling. He gazed at the stars, his thoughts strayed away as he laid under the cold night sky.

"H-hey… Tai?" Then, a certain voice peeked out of the moonlit forest. "Are you… still awake?" Tai Lung craned his head up to see the wolf gently looking at him with drowsy eyes.

"What?" Tai Lung asked.

"Umm.. c-could… could I-" Yut muttered in an embarrassing tone. "Could I… umm… sleep next to you?"

The cold winds blew across them, and without blanket or fire the night was as cold as the Tavan Bogd Mountains. Tai Lung looked straight into his eye while Yut stared back. The wolf earnestly did so with his arms around his chest. "…please? It's… really cold…"

Only a child would request something like that. But I guess for a person like Yut, it couldn't be helped. "Do what you want," Tai said, turning on his side. Yut beamed up before crawling from the other side of the dead campfire. The wolf lied down next to him, already feeling his warmth emanating. Although Tai Lung faced the opposite direction, that unmistakable warmth was already tingling through his fur. A gentle warmth that reminded him of the previous night.

His thoughts focused solely at the time when he woke up to find himself wrapped around his arms, and not the event of the night before. A stray thought passed through before he fell asleep. "I'd want to wake up like that again…"

The snow leopard turned his head to see the wolf already fast asleep beside him. The sound look on his face, a word quickly spanned through his mind. "Cute."

Tai Lung quickly perished the thought. What was he thinking? He faced upwards, trying to avert his gaze from the snoozing wolf. The clear dark night sky entranced him once again. While sinking his gaze into the dark abyss, he remembered a little proverb back when he was a child.

"_Dreams are like the stars; but infinite to imagination, but finite in reality. It's impossible to count them all, so we can only follow the brightest that we see"_

"So what star am I following now… master?" Tai Lung muttered to himself. He turned his when he heard Yut's voice.

He could hear him muttering inaudible words. "Talking in his sleep, huh?" Tai could start to feel the wolf's own body heat. Sharing each other's warmth, that's what lovers commonly do, right?

Again, Tai Lung quickly discarded the idea. He turned his gaze away from the wolf, facing towards the opposite direction.

But the warmth of his friend was still there. Tai Lung could now barely feel the frigid cold of the night. The pleasant sensation slowly lured him to his dreams.


	5. New Arrivals

_A/N: Hurrah for the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior! And also, Shifu! Also…_

**[**_BCY603: Hey, I just noticed this but, if you pronounce Yut in a certain way in Chinese, it means daylight. Coincidence, no? XD_**]**

_Lol really? xD The name was actually meant for a concept I thought of that would matter around the second story arc. And it also seems redundant for a wolf (being inclined with moonlight) having a name meaning daylight, in which I find the entire concept endearing._

_And I hope you guys don't it's ended yet :P Based on foresight, it is VERY far from the end._

* * *

><p>"Let me come with you!"<p>

That statement was the first thing Tai Lung heard from Yut that morning. The wolf stared intently at him, begging as he knelt on the ground.

"No," Tai replied emotionless.

"Awww, come on! _Please!_" Yut pleaded, still on his knees.

"The deal was that we going to part ways when we reached the village," Tai Lung said. "Once we got there, I'd leave you and we'd never see each other again."

"Oh, don't be like that!" Yut replied. "Think about it, it's a good idea! You get to have your _fresh start_ or whatever, and I get to have mine too!"

"I'd prefer my fresh start, _without_ you," the snow leopard said coldly as he went off to follow the forest path.

"I-I'm not _that_ bothersome am I?" the wolf asked, catching up as his paws hit the grassy terrain. "Am I really that bad an idea to bring along?"

Tai Lung gave out heavy frustrated grunt. "I – just…"

When Tai wouldn't continue his answer, Yut tried poking it out of him. "Just what?" Tai Lung hung his head in silence. He didn't give an answer – no, more like, he didn't _want_ to answer.

"All right, look. You don't have to decide right now. Just take your time." Yut explained. "And, I'll just… tag along 'till you make up your mind!"

"You're really not going to let it slip, are you?" Tai said. The wolf chimed in with a cheerful hum, answering off with his mischievous nature. As the pair walked off to their destination, things were boiling out from afar.

* * *

><p>"He's escaped again?" a red panda calmly asked. Had he not achieved inner peace, his soul would be in a maelstrom.<p>

"That's what the reports have said. He seemed to have escaped a few days ago before the report even came in," Zeng, the messenger goose, said with a lighter tone than his usual shuddering. Perhaps the only reason why he would shiver in his answer would be due to being surprised from Shifu's calm reply. "There have also been reports of him being seen, but nothing about his current location."

"Where is he headed?" Shifu asked when he stopped Zeng from answering. "No need. There could only be one place he would go to…"

Atop the Valley of Peace, the large brass bell shook and rang across in a large echo. It was heard even amidst a crowd of people chattering and bustling about. From corner to corner of the village, even to a large noodle shop filled with people almost every single day.

"Whoops, gotta go dad," a panda said as he took off his apron.

"Not right now, Po! We have a lot of customers to serve still!" Mr. Ping called out whilst carrying a stack of porcelain bowls to his kitchen.

"Sorry! I know you need help and all but I still have my own job to do!" Po shouted as he ran off towards the exit. He navigated his large body against the crowd. "See ya' tomorrow!"

Mr. Ping sighed. Building an expansion for the family noodle shop was both the best and worst decisions he's made so far. Income's greatly increased, but so was employee labor. Managing it all by himself seemed nearly impossible. "Well, I'm sure I can handle it…"

"Three warrior-size dumplings please!" said three rabbits in front of the counter. Mr. Ping struggled to carry all three at the same time. His eyes seemed like popping, and he was hardly able to breathe. As soon as he could, he let them roll on the counter and had the rabbits carry it themselves. Ping quickly drew in a heavy breath.

The goose scratched his head troublingly. "Oh dear… I certainly need more help with this…"

Although he's been the Dragon Warrior for a year now, climbing up the stairs to the Jade Palace was never an easy task. Nonetheless when he reached the top, he made it seem as if it was an effortless feat. Opening the door, he finds out that he was the last one there.

The bells were always rung at certain periods of time, but when it's rung out of its certain intervals, it was meant as a signal to alert the Furious Five, and the Dragon Warrior. Only reason to alert them would be for the reason of utmost importance, and needless to say, when they heard it, the rest of the villagers would hear it as well.

But they rest their worries onto the protectors of the village. Regardless that the bell is used to signal danger, the warriors have sworn their lives to protect them all, and in that they could live in peace.

"I'm here… master…" Po said, trying to keep his heavy panting from being too obvious. If only he had learned it before, he would've known that trying to keep it from them was a meaningless act. "S-sup?"

"Master, we're all here," Tigress reported in. "Is there something you wish to tell us?"

Shifu took a deep breath. This also troubled him to an extent, his face being exact proof. "Tai Lung… is free once again."

In an instant, everyone reacted. "What! But how could he this time? Were the guards slacking off or something?" Crane blurted.

"Those rhinos are probably doing it on purpose," Monkey added.

Mantis jumped in atop Monkey. "Come on, let's be serious guys."

"Any ideas what he's going to do?" Viper asked.

After a ruminating expression on her face faded, she came to a conclusion. "No doubt he's coming here, isn't he Master?" Tigress spoke out. Shifu nodded, confident with it as well.

"Well, we can stop him again like we did before!" Po said confidently. "Plus, we're all stronger than we used to be! There's no way he can stop us!"

"I have no doubt that you would be successful," Shifu replied. "But we must still consider the safety of the villagers. News of Tai Lung's freedom has been kept a secret to keep the villagers from rising in a panic. But if he still reaches the village, their safety may not be guaranteed entirely."

"If he's already on his way here, then how long do we have until then?" asked Tigress.

Shifu gathered his thoughts for a moment. "I don't know. For now, we should set out for patrols. Spread out and guard the entire village. We _must_ not let him through."

"Yes, master," they said before they fanned out in different directions. Expectedly, Po was left behind the rest when talking in terms of speed.

"Po," Shifu called out. The panda quickly turned to face him.

"Yes Master Shifu?" Po asked.

"I'd like it if you handle this all by yourselves," Master Shifu answered. "It is time you must act upon your own decisions."

Po raises his eyebrows in surprise. "W-wait, you sure about that? I mean – he's Tai Lung. Don't you, well, won't you have anything you might wanna say or do?"

"Anything I say will only be in vain. And it is time I stopped clinging to the past…" Shifu looks at his old master's staff, losing himself for a moment but quickly regaining his stern self. "How is Mr. Ping? I heard your family's enlarged noodle shop was just recently re-opened." Shifu inquired. "He must be working hard."

"Oh, yeah, but my dad is pretty stubborn. I've told him to just take a few days off if he felt like it, but he said our ancestors would get angry or something." Po said, "'A thousand noodle curses upon us' he says. Plus, I help out every now and then to make things easier."

"…I see." Shifu said. "Send him my regards."

"Uh… sure thing!" Po said as continued to run off. "Well then, gotta go!"

"_Adopted son… hmm?_" Shifu thought. He was oblivious to the fact that his father was a goose until Po told them all that he was adopted. For a moment, he chuckled, thinking how foolish and silly he was to believe that a goose could even have a panda for a child. What a tragedy that would be, he thought.

"And yet, he truly loves his father, and his father loves him." He utters to himself. His thoughts dwelled to certain feelings that were akin to his own. "Perhaps… I wonder…"

* * *

><p>"Have you made up your mind now?"<p>

"When will you stop asking…?" Tai Lung grunted as he held his temper.

The wolf pouted behind him. "Until you give me an answer," he said.

"Or maybe until I put a gag in your mouth," he muttered softly to himself.

"Now?" Yut asked again and Tai Lung could only rub his palm down his face. When all of this was over, he planned on kicking the wolf's butt as hard as possible.

Yut finally stopped asking a loud growl came from his stomach. He patted down his abdomen realizing that he hadn't anything to eat in a while.

"How far until we get there…" Yut moaned.

"Not far, now keep quiet!" Tai Lung hissed in anger.

When Yut's growled once again, he opened his mouth to speak until he was cut short as Tai Lung suddenly spoke ahead.

"No no, no need to tell me," Tai Lung said in a distinct tone, "you're hungry aren't you? And you want to have something to eat. Something to fill your stomach cause you don't remember how to feed yourself."

Right before Yut opened his muzzle one more time, Tai immediately cut him off. "Oh, no need to worry. I know the perfect place to go to!"

Boiling up in frustration, Tai grabbed Yut and carried him on his arms. Yut cried in astonishment as the snow leopard dashed forward.

"He-hey!" the wolf blurted loudly as he quickly grasped onto the snow leopards fur in fear of being thrown into the air.

Yut saw Tai wear a cynical smile, clearly trying to guise over an angered stare. His temper was something he clearly knew he had to get used to. The wolf felt the heavy blow of the wind swimming through his fur. Distance immediately blurred away in his vision, and he could audibly hear the breeze circling through his ears. He could only react by yelling from the speed of transportation.

Swiftly after five minutes, Tai Lung put Yut's feet back on the ground. The wolf quivered, nearly stumbling as he tried to regain his balance.

"Awawawawa…." Yut bantered, staggering and spinning around trying not to trip.

Almost expectedly so, his foot gets caught on a rock and he starts heading towards the ground.

Closing his eyes as he tentatively waited to plummet to the earth, he instead met a soft warm embrace. The panic his body was sent in gradually faded away. Slowly opening his eyes, he sees a snow leopard that had caught him from falling.

"A-ah-" Yut muttered as his body went to tense once again. "Th-tha-" Tai Lung brought him back up as he coldly turned away without Yut having to finish his sentence.

The wolf then finally noticed the object in front of them; a small wooden hut. They could hear a few voices coming from inside. The wolf wondered who they were.

"Tai?" Yut said before the kung fu warrior opened the door and headed in. Immediately, the men inside threw their attention at him.

"Hey, what are you–"

Before the man inside could finish his sentence, the door was slammed shut. In an instant, Yut could hear heavy clattering and yelling from inside. As the wolf started to walk up to see what was going on, a cougar broke through the window and landed on the ground, beaten and unconscious. The wolf almost yelped when the body landed right next to him.

Yut inspected the unconscious victim, finding him to be wearing leather garments, and a sheath for a sword nowhere to be seen.

He quickly ran inside to find another person thud right next to the door. He turned his head to see Tai Lung in the center of the room clapping the dust off his hands. "Tai, what's going-"

"_-on?_" The wolf didn't finish his sentence. He caught sight of a faint smile on the leopard's face. Beating up a total of five people, taking into account the person outside, had relieved a bit of the angry leopard's temper. Yut deemed it was best not to say anything unnecessary for the moment.

Tai Lung let out a sigh with a distinct tone of relief. "Look, there's food on the table," he said with a hollow voice.

"But what about these-"

Tai Lung made a distinct slam with his palm unto the table. "Just shut it and eat."

The wolf carefully inched towards a seat. If his stomach were to growl again, it probably won't be the only one growling soon enough. Yut plumped down onto the chair as Tai Lung calmly sat on the opposite side. Shooting a glance towards an alligator's hysterical unconscious face didn't seem to put his appetite in a good position.

Yut inspected the food on the table. It was a mixed set of different various kinds of food. There were pieces of tender meat, and there was a pie or two on a plate. These weren't the kinds of food people like bandits would have. It was more like it came from a restaurant. Perhaps knowing that these were stolen could put some rest into his conscience.

But deducing whether it was stolen goods or not would have to wait. Yut thought it best to just enjoy the meal – as strange the situation was. He immediately grabbed a piece of chicken and bit down. It was cold, but food was still food. He chewed and swallowed each bite hungrily. At the plate next to him were loaves of bread. He quickly reached out for one, but before he could drive it in home to his mouth, he caught sight of the snow leopard sitting across the table. Tai Lung was leaning his elbow on the table and his fist on his cheek, looking away as he waited as patiently as he could. With the bread still in his hand, Yut instead brought it in front of him.

"Here," the wolf said as he offered the piece of bread. "It's cold, but I'm sure it still tastes good."

Tai Lung glanced at the bread. Beyond it was the wolf smiling, being his usual optimistic self. For some reason, that smile stirred _something _inside of him.

"Come on, you don't want me to hold it for you to eat, do you?" Yut chuckled.

Annoyed, and slightly embarrassed, the leopard swiped it away from his hand as cold as possible could without any emotion. Yut beamed and continued eating, glad enough to manage getting the grumpy feline to eat. While Tai was eating, Yut sensed the atmosphere to get slightly less heavy.

Wanting to get his conscience clear, he took the initiative to start a conversation. "So… is it really okay to be doing this?" the wolf asked. Tai Lung immediately stopped chewing. Yut held his breath for a moment, thinking he might flare up in anger once again. Thankfully, he only stopped to swallow, allowing Yut to breathe out calmly.

"Its fine," Tai answered. "This place is a bandit hangout. Wasn't sure anyone would be here, but people keep coming back here." Tai paused for a moment, scoffing at a thought. "Not sure why people would come back home to a grungy place like this."

With his conscience clear, Yut felt relieved. Taking from bandits didn't seem so bad if they really were stolen goods just the same. However, ending the conversation there wasn't enough. With the bandits completely unconscious, he was sure they weren't being heard. "Hey, Tai?" he called out. "Just… just where do you plan on heading?"

Tai Lung sat in silence.

"I know you probably have a million places you'd want to go, but is there anywhere in parti-"

"I don't really have…" Tai's voice stopped Yut in mid-sentence. "anywhere else to go other than…" The leopard paused, as he did not know how to finish his sentence. He picked between words in his head, but ending up with the only sure word he could call it. "…there."

Yut folded one of his ears while the other stood up. "Okay… where exactly is 'there'?"

Tai got up from the table, turned his back and faced towards an open window. "The Valley of Peace."

Yut also stood up in alert. "The Valley of Peace?" he blurted. "**The** Valley of Peace? The place where those kung fu warriors are? The place where you went all crazy and tore the whole place down?"

Tai let out a heavy grunt.

"Why would you want to go back there?" the wolf pestered.

The snow leopard clenched his fist as he took a deep breath. But in letting his breath out, he calmly did so as he unclenched his fist just the same. "It's the first place that came to mind." Tai Lung answered. "Anyways, it's a good place for you to start. I'll figure things out on my own."

Tai noticed the worried look on his wolf companion's face. Knowing him enough, that had only meant trouble. Noticing the half-eaten loaf on his plate, Tai quickly tried to draw away Yut from his thoughts. "If you're done eating, we can leave."

But the wolf had already began to contemplate and derive a solution. Since the incident at the village, he's found that he's incapable of taking care of himself just yet. Tai Lung was so far the only person he could trust.

"_There has to be a way…"_ Yut repeated in his mind as he searched with his eyes around the room as the answer was decorated neatly within the walls. But all he could see were pieces of food, crates, and different kinds of expensive-looking items.

Tai Lung sighed. The sight of a silently pondering wolf would mean something completely unexpected would come out any time soon. And he didn't want any of that anymore. In a harsh change of tone, he called him out with his usual tempered self. "Look, let's not waste any time-"

Yut immediately turned towards him. He responded not to his words, but to the sound of his voice. His full attention however was still locked in to thinking. But upon looking at him, the answer simply popped right in his sights. It was standing right there by the door, right behind Tai Lung.

When Yut began to lift a smile, the snow leopard gave him confused look before he turned to where his eyes were locked at.

"Don't tell me…"

* * *

><p>A round adolescent panda strolled through the plains, seeking a match for his quickly moving arms. His arms danced around him as he leaped and hopped, punching and chopping in the air as he navigated as "silently" as he could.<p>

"Haaahh!" he yelled fiercely in a high-pitched tone as bounced behind a flat stone rooted in the ground. "My enemy draws close. I can feel my kung-fu awesomeness welling inside me," he narrates to himself in a cool secretive tone.

Po places his elbows onto the stone. He forms a ring with his hands and places them both around his eyes like binoculars. He focuses his sights into the distance. He twists his head as he scours the landscape. He twists around his hands as if zooming in as he sees a group of children playing by the brook.

"Pff, kids these days. Running off without adult supervi- wait a minute, who am _I_ kidding?" He brushes his sights off them as he goes back scanning different locations. As soon as he moves around his binoculars, a giant eyeball meets in front of his sights. "Po!" it called out. In a sudden state of shock, the panda yelps and jumps back.

"Po, what are you doing, man?" said Mantis, as his signature size and cricketty sounds gave him off. "Come on, stop goofing around! We've got a patrol to do!"

"I'm not goofing around. _This_ is how I do patrol." Po said as he lifted himself up from the ground and shakes the dirt off his fur. "Patrol for an incredibly dangerous person whose main goal is likely to make the Valley of Peace… _not_ the Valley of Peace. He'll make it the Valley of… non-Peace."

"But he could be coming in from anywhere, and at any time," replied Mantis. "That's why we have to be vigilant."

"I get that, but come on!" Po laid his arm on a low-lying branch at a nearby tree. "It's not like he's gonna waltz right in undetected. 'Big white muscular leopard with looks that could kill'. That's like one huge banner for alert."

"I have to agree." Crane flaps his wings down and perches himself onto the branch. "I've been flying everywhere, aaand there hasn't been any sight of him so far."

"See, Crane agrees with me," Po mentioned.

Something suddenly slithers around Po from the tree trunk. The panda quickly lifts his arms up to see what it was – only to see _who_ it was. It was Viper, who slithered further towards his feet and across towards the grass. "I've asked around the outlying villages, and none of them has reported _any_ suspicious activity," she reported. "I couldn't really ask them directly if they saw Tai Lung. We still need to be as discreet as possible."

Monkey soon swings in to the discussion – literally. He hangs one arm around the low-lying branch. The so called master of balance was flapping his wings to maintain it as the playful chimp makes much of a disturbance. "I don't think he could just walk in quietly either," he chuckles.

Mantis cuts in. "But we can't just lie back waiting for him. After all, Master Shifu wants us to handle this quietly."

Tigress was walking along her patrol route until she sees the entire gang up the hill. Immediately, she made her way up while keying in to their discussion.

"We can't just take them one of the biggest meanest kung fu warriors _quietly_," Crane added.

"Yah, not like he'll quietly surrender either," Monkey jested.

"I know we've got this huge responsibility we have to do ourselves," Po said. "But we seriously need to think this through."

"Po's right," Tigress called out, catching their attention. "Master Shifu left us to decide for ourselves because he trusts us. But we won't achieve anything without any clues."

"The only thing we do know is the he'll come here, one way or another," Viper said.

"That's it then!" Po yelled. "We just have to wait for him here and catch him in our mighty awesome trap!"

"That's still not an option," Tigress immediately cut in.

"We have to minimize collateral damage," Crane said. "So let's try to keep him away from the village as _much _as possible.

"Then what _can_ we do? Moving around in patrols won't finish anything but neither would be waiting." Po sat down on the grass with a soft thud.

"Either way accomplishes nothing," Tigress added.

The entire team waited and thought. In the end, none of them could hatch a plan. "I guess the only thing we can do is keep an eye out," said Mantis while scratching his head with the tip of his scythe-like arm.

"A least two of us should take patrols so let's take turns." Tigress said. "Is everyone okay with that?"

Everyone nodded back.

"Good. Po, we'll take patrols for now. The rest of us can head back."

"Ah gee, I was really looking forward to helping my dad out today at the shop," the panda replied. "Well, I got it. Bye guys, see you tomorrow,"

Everyone said their goodbyes as they headed off. "Let's go!" Po yelled as he and Tigress ran off in the opposite direction.

"Still no snack stops," Tigress said humorously.

Po frowned. "Oh _come_ on."

* * *

><p>"I can't believe we're still doing this," said a muffled deep voice in a heavy suit of armor. From head to toe the person was covered in metal. His feet thudded heavily with each step whilst leaving distinct marks on the dirt road. With a doubtful attitude, he started to walk slower as he neared the village entrance.<p>

The wolf beside him pepped up as he noticed his companion lagging behind without enthusiasm. He walked in front of him and pulled on his metal-covered arm. "Come on, this idea is perfect!" he said. "No one's going to think twice on who you are!"

Yut looked around the peaceful looking village. The different colors and buildings left him excited. "Wow, this village is big. I can't believe it's just _part _of the Valley of Peace. Hey, is that the Jade Palace?" Yut began to blabber excitedly .

A snow leopard inhabiting the suit of iron grumbled to himself. While the wolf pulled him by his arm, he thought back to how all this mischief began.

It started back at the bandit hangout, where Yut started talking Tai Lung into wearing the suit of armor that was displayed by the wall.

"No, I am _not_ wearing that," Tai retorted, "I'll simply make myself look foolish!"

"You won't know unless you try! Who knows? It might look good on you," Yut encouraged as he continued to try placing the helmet over his head. "This way we can both stay at the village!"

Tai Lung grabs the helmet down below eye level. "People will not be fooled by this poor excuse of a disguise!"

"They're not going to think twice on who you really are," Yut persuaded. "Just leave their wondering part to me. Trust me, it'll work-"

"What's it going to take for you to get my point across?" Tai Lung snapped. Yut immediately tucked his head down at the boom of his voice. "I want to be rid of you as soon as possible. I-" Before continuing, he noticed the grim frown starting to paint over the wolf' usual smile. For a moment, his harsh words started to choose to become softer by itself. In frustration, he turned his head to face away from Yut. "I don't want you involved with someone like me. You're better off being alone."

Yut lifted his frown up. His fingers clenched around the side of the cold helmet still in his hands. "…that's not true." Yut perked his head up, lifting out his voice. "You're not as horrible as you or everyone else thinks. Ever since I could first start remembering… you were the first friend I've made. And through everything, you've taken care of me."

"That's all just because of your damn influence," Tai replied.

"To be honest, I've left like nothing but a kid," Yut said. "I've been latching on because you were the only one around I could depend on. But, I'm not doing this because you've been dependable. I've been doing this not just for me, but for you too."

Tai cut in "I don't need you taking care of me. I can handle things on my own."

"I know that!" Yut's hands trembled. "You can take on even a hundred rhinos and leave without a scratch. You could take on anything the world threw at you. But recently… recently, you look like you've been hurting." Yut forced himself to stop trembling, planted his foot down and looked the leopard straight in the eye. "I want to help you too, like you've helped me. I want to be your friend as much as you've been mine."

A long silence enraptured the room. Tai Lung thought to himself while Yut waited him for an answer. Yut waited silently. He looked for a sign on his face, a glimmer of hope that his friend would still be around. But Tai's face was a complete blank, he wasn't angry, but nor did he have any expression.

As time stretched onwards, Yut began to lose hope. "Just… think of it as a way of saying thanks for everything you've done for me," Yut said as he forced a smile. "If you don't want to… that's all right…"

When Tai didn't give back an answer, Yut decided to place the helmet back on the display. "_Why would he agree? I'd be nothing but trouble for him anyways…"_

But the moment he was about to put it back, Tai Lung's hands grabbed onto the round cylindrical helmet. "You really are troublesome…" he said as he gave the helmet one last glance. "I just have to wear this, right?"

After what he said, the mood around the room suddenly changed. For a moment, Yut stood only in surprise. But then his smile soon started becoming real.

One moment, Tai Lung was wearing the iron helmet on his head, and the next he was walking in an entire suit of armor. As they walked through the village, he could not help but catch some of the other villagers' glances.

"_A tall man clad in armor. Who wouldn't be suspicious of it?" _he thought to himself. But soon enough, his thoughts began to be occupied by something more predictably nostalgic. He then began to go back to the years when he was but a proud trainee. The trees that bent to the sway of the wind, the children that played by the creeks, the men who went and built stone houses and bridges, everything came back to him in a flush of memories.

He wondered where they had been all this time. Perhaps they were just there all along, locked in a small chest with the key left right here.

But then, going back to his memories would have to wait. The voice of a particular wolf caught his attention. "Hey, look over here!" Yut said as he ran off. Tai immediately followed. The two looked at a poster on the wall of a nearby shop. "It says, 'Help Needed. Looking for workers, food and lodgings provided.'" The wolf quickly faced Tai Lung. "Hey, it says food and lodgings provided. We're gonna need a place to stay, so why not here?"

Tai Lung finally found an idea that both he and Yut could agree with. But before he could say yes, he reads the sign on the shop with cold despair.

"Err, Yut, wait," Tai muttered in a sudden cold sweat. "I don't think we should…"

"Come on, let's check it out!" the wolf nonchalantly pulls on his arm.

"Wait, stop!"

But the wolf does not listen to him. It seemed like the biggest change of his life was just about to start. In that moment, he had just entered what could be the most dangerous place he shouldn't be.

Above the entrance, the signboard read, "Dragon Warrior Noodles & Tofu", in honor of the hero that saved the Valley of Peace. Also otherwise known as home of the Dragon Warrior himself.


End file.
